The Best Laid Plans, Episode II
by OpticalRacer
Summary: Soraa and Ja'Ina barely escaped the Imperial forces that have taken over their hometown. They now look to leave their homeworld for the adventures they've always dreamed of. Little do they know, adventure can still find them before they can even leave. Set just under a year BBY. OC-centric. Rated T for violence akin to the films, light language and a little drinking.
1. Chapter 1

**Best Laid Plans - A Star Wars Serial Adventure**

* * *

_Author's Note: While I have created the characters and the situations, it all resides in the Star Wars Universe owned by George Lucas._

_This story was conceived in an episodic, serial form. To read the first episode of this story, please go to:_

_www fanfiction net/s/8366512/1/The-Best-Laid-Plans-Episode-I _

_(just need to add the missing periods, I apologize for that inconvenience)_

* * *

**Episode II**

With their dreams of leaving their small town of Sim Katall becoming a reality, Soraa and Ja'Ina prepared to travel to the spaceport Jum Katar.

Imperial forces have moved into Sim Katall, and the young friends' small-town life comes to a bitter end as they flee certain subjugation.

Having narrowly escaped agents of the Empire, Soraa and Ja'Ina meet with their new friends and make their way towards Jum Katar in hopes to soon leave Galathu…

* * *

**Chapter One**

As Soraa, Ja'Ina and the band made their way towards Jum Katar the young women shared stories of what had happened since the show at the Haven. However, the young women chose not to say anything about Merek's death. The four musicians listened in pure amazement to the wild story.

Doren was impressed. "I would have never guessed by your appearance that you could do such things!"

Irsann added, "Ja'Ina has studied hand-to-hand defense for many years. I never met Soraa before, but I can see why they're such good friends."

"At any rate, we are so grateful to be traveling with you," Ja'Ina said. "I don't see us ever going back to Sim Katall."

Raelin chimed in, "Well, just be warned that there is a substantial Imperial presence at Jum Katar. You'll be able to hide amongst the larger population, but you can still attract the Empire's attention if you're not careful. Luckily, the Imperials probably never got a positive I.D. on you after killing that Stormtrooper back there. That's a fast track to the death penalty for the both of you."

Soraa broke into a cold sweat with the words 'death penalty'. "I know. I did it without thinking. I didn't want to kill anyone."

"But you did it to protect Ja'Ina," added Raelin.

Ja'Ina looked down at her lap, sullen. "I don't think it was worth killing the trooper."

"He didn't leave me any choice," Soraa asserted.

Raelin interrupted. "The most important thing is that you're both safe, and it doesn't look like anyone's following us. We'll just drive casual so we don't catch any extra attention."

The group traveled on in the old repulsor van towards the large spaceport. As they got farther away from Sim Katall, Soraa and Ja'Ina began to feel the excitement of making their life-long dreams come true. It was easier for them to relax.

A few hours later, they all stopped for lunch and a small rest. They pulled about two-hundred meters off the road near the edge of some trees. Raelin and the rest of the band told Soraa and Ja'Ina about some of their more interesting travels around the planet as they ate.

"Hey, Doren," Raelin called out, "do you remember the time we stopped in that speck of a town about a year ago?"

The Zabrak perked up. "Oh yeah, that place made Sim Katall look like a metropolis. I don't even remember the name. That was an interesting stop."

Raelin turned to the women. "The place was literally a run-down fuel stop and not much else, maybe fifty people lived there. It wasn't on our maps and we needed to stop somewhere for the night. They had a small tavern and we offered to play there for a night's stay in their little hotel. The town's administrator, who was also the constable, fuel station manager and tavern owner, agreed, so we set up. Apparently, those people didn't get much in the way of entertainment there so there was a lot of buzz about our impromptu gig."

Raelin paused to take a bite of his lunch before continuing. "So we set up in one end of the tavern since there was no real stage area and started playing. The whole town packed the place and spilled out the front door. We started with one of our ambient songs like we usually do, but we were quickly losing the crowd. So we decided to ramp it up a bit."

Irsann jumped in with a grin. "I started off with this really powerful beat, the kind that rattles your guts."

Doren cut in. "Heh heh, next thing you know all the lights started to dim in time with Irsann's beats. Before we knew it, everything went out – sound, power, lights, everything."

Irsann picked it up from there. "It turned out we blew the town's entire power grid, to the point that their main generator was in flames!"

All of the musicians laughed.

Soraa was fascinated. "So what happened next?"

Raelin answered, "What else? The townspeople were as mad as rabid womp rats. They basically kicked us out of their town."

Doren added, "at least they didn't _run_ us out of town!"

All the musicians laughed again, and this time Soraa and Ja'Ina laughed along.

"So at least they were nice to you," Ja'Ina said.

"I don't know if _nice_ is the right word for it," Doren said gruffly. "We had plenty of things thrown at us as we drove off."

Soraa noticed that Ag'ran never said anything the whole time. The Bith just sat off to the side, focused on his lunch.

Pitching a thumb towards him, Soraa asked, "What's up with him?"

Raelin smiled. "Oh Ag'ran? He isn't a man of many words. But when he speaks through the music, you can't get him to shut up!" He chuckled.

Ag'ran looked up, shrugged and went back to his food.

Ja'Ina stood up. "I hear a stream back in the trees. Soraa, let's go freshen up."

Soraa also stood up, brushing at the dirt on her clothes. "Sounds good to me!" She turned back to the musicians with a suspecting eye. "You boys better not follow us." She raised her blaster pistol up in plain view of her audience.

The band feigned fright. Raelin held his hands up, "Us? No of course not! Just don't take too long. We have a gig to get to!" He gave her a wink and a playful grin.

Soraa grabbed a set of fresh clothes and strutted off after Ja'Ina. Doren and Irsann couldn't help but stare and admire her feminine form.

Raelin slapped his band mates' heads. "Hey!"

* * *

After a short walk, just out of sight of the repulsor van, the young women got to a large stream. The clear cold water ran swift but not too strong. The water was almost two meters at its deepest, more than enough to for them to wash up. The tree cover wasn't very thick, so there was quite a bit of warm sunlight shining in contrasting the cold of the water.

When they were done, Soraa and Ja'Ina felt refreshed and invigorated. They changed into fresh clothes – Soraa donned her skin-tight shorts and a matching narrow tube top, and Ja'Ina her knee-length skirt and another crop top.

Just when they started to walk back Ja'Ina stopped short. She muttered, "Something's not right..."

Soraa scanned all directions around them. "What do you mean, Ina?"

"We must be cautious. Come on."

Soraa instinctively pulled out her blaster pistol and the pair continued to walk slowly back to the others. The friends got to the edge of the trees and what they saw made them both immediately drop prone amongst the bushes. It was the last thing they wanted to see right now.

A speeder with three Stormtroopers had stopped next to the van. Two of the troopers were talking to the band with their rifles out. The third was rummaging through the van, tossing out whatever he could find.

Soraa was flustered. "Stang! We stayed too long!"

"It's okay," Ja'Ina whispered back. Let's just see what happens. Hopefully, the guys won't say anything about us."

"What about our stuff? How will they explain that?"

"I took our sacks and my quarterstaff and stowed them out of sight. That trooper will have to get through all the music gear before finding them."

Soraa went pale. "Oh no..."

"What is it?"

"I left my DL-18 out of my bag. I'm sure the trooper will find it..."

"The guys should still be able to get away with it since it's technically legal. Raelin shouldn't have a problem coming up with a story for it."

"I hope you're right." Soraa bit her lip, disappointed with her carelessness.

A few minutes passed. It appeared that the two troopers were giving the band a harsh interrogation. The third continued to throw stuff out of the van. One piece of gear after another came tumbling out, much to the musicians' dismay. Then, Soraa and Ja'Ina saw the trooper stop and step out of the van. He was holding Soraa's other blaster.

He walked over to the other two and showed them the weapon. He then stepped forward and appeared to be asking Raelin about the blaster. Raelin said a few things and without warning, the trooper clubbed him in the head with the pistol. The women gasped as Raelin fell to his knees holding his head. The other musicians jumped forward to help him. The other troopers pulled their blaster rifles on them and they all stopped in their tracks.

Soraa immediately drew a bead on the assaulting trooper's head, ready to shoot. With everything she and Ja'Ina went through, she no longer had any reservations about using her blaster to kill any Imperial agents. She bit her lip and slowly began to squeeze the trigger. Ja'Ina suddenly pulled Soraa's arms down, causing her to release the trigger.

Soraa whispered harshly at her, "Ina! Why did you stop me? I would have had him!"

"Then what?" Ja'Ina whispered back. "We'd have two more troopers to deal with. That would have been too difficult from this distance. Besides, you don't want the guys to get any more involved in our mess than they already are, do you?"

Soraa stared out at the scene. "No... You're right." She sighed.

"That's right. Just relax, let things play out and everything will be okay."

It was very hard for Soraa to relax while watching the Stormtroopers abuse their friends. She really thought that she could squeeze off three rapid shots and down all the troopers before they knew what happened. But rationally, she knew that even with her skills it would be difficult at best – maybe two of them if she was lucky. But that would also put the musicians at even more risk of injury or worse. Soraa resigned to watch and wait.

After more words were exchanged between the Stormtroopers and the band, the trooper threw the blaster pistol on the ground. The troopers got back into their speeder and drove off in a cloud of dust.

Once Soraa and Ja'Ina were certain the Imperials were gone, they darted out of the bushes and ran back to the others as fast as they could. Raelin was still on the ground, with the others around him. His platinum locks were stained red with his blood.

Soraa called out, "Raelin! Raelin! Are you okay?"

Doren intercepted her. Anger shone in his Zabrak eyes. "You stay away from him! Stay away from _all_ of us!"

"W-whaa?" Soraa was stunned by his response.

"I knew we shouldn't have taken you with us today! We never had any problems with the Empire before! We keep politically neutral with our music because we don't want to have the Imperial Board of Culture on our backs! Now you've gone and brought the Imps with you! Go away!"

Ja'Ina stepped in. "Doren! Calm down for a minute. What did the troopers want?"

Irsann answered for the angry Zabrak. "They claimed it was a routine stop in their search for rebels. They never mentioned they were looking for anyone in particular."

Doren was furious. He pointed at the young women. "That doesn't mean the Imperials weren't looking for these two! They aren't going to say who they're looking for until they find them, so they don't tip their targets off! What other rebels are there around here besides Soraa and Ja'Ina?"

Ja'Ina had to interject at his accusation. "Whoa, whoa there Doren! We're not rebels."

Doren stepped towards Ja'Ina, Irsann held him back. "You killed a Stormtrooper! You destroyed their droids!"

Soraa retorted, "It was an unfortunate situation, Doren! We didn't want to kill anyone!"

Doren pointed to the heavy blaster on Soraa's hip. "That thing is highly illegal under Imperial law! Even I know that! I knew we should have left you behind when I first saw it!"

"I didn't want to use it! I told you I tried to stun him first!"

Raelin was tired of the bickering. "Enough already!"

Doren, Ja'Ina and Soraa all stopped their arguing and looked over at Raelin. Ag'ran helped him to stand up. Raelin had a bloody bump on his head, but was otherwise unhurt. He was a little dizzy and had a bit of difficulty with standing, so Ag'ran helped him sit down in the hatch of the van.

Raelin groaned, "Doren, cool your hyperdrive. We can't blame Soraa and Ja'Ina for all of this."

"But Raelin!" the Zabrak growled.

"You know as well as I do that it was only a matter of time before we'd have issues with the Empire. Just because we try to stay out of the political scene doesn't mean that they're not gonna mess with us. We can keep pretending that this isn't happening out there, but it is. The Empire is squeezing everybody who's not with them. And these days, you don't have to be against them to be against them."

Irsann added, "Raelin's right, Doren. Besides, I'm surprised we haven't had more problems with that blasted human-centric Imperial doctrine."

Ag'ran nodded in agreement while Doren winced at the mention of the anti-non-human doctrine.

Raelin touched his tender wound and twitched with the pain. "We can't be blind to it anymore. All we can do is our best to keep our noses clean. None of us like the Empire, but we're not in a position to fight them. I think Ja'Ina and Soraa are in a similar position."

The Zabrak couldn't believe what Raelin just said. "A similar position?! _They_ have the weapons!" He pointed at the young women.

Soraa stepped right into Doren's face. "Look, we don't like the Empire either given what we've seen and heard! We didn't intend to kill anybody when we decided to leave Galathu long ago, and definitely not now either. I wish I could undo what I did. But I can't, and I'll have to live with it. Believe me Doren, if it looks like Ja'Ina and I are making things dangerous for you, we will leave."

Doren pointed into her face, almost touching the tip of his finger to her nose. "I'll hold you to that!" He turned and stormed away to load their gear back into the repulsor van, grumbling the whole time.

The other three musicians walked up to the women.

"You don't have to do that, you know," Raelin reassured them.

Irsann agreed. "Yeah, we've expected problems for quite some time now. There isn't any reason to believe that trouble came our way because of you."

"Yeah, but try telling that to Doren," Ja'Ina sighed.

"Don't worry about him," said Raelin. "He's always been a bit gruff on occasion. The Empire is especially a sore point for him. When Doren was young, the Imps arrested his father and sold him off as a slave just because he was a Zabrak. He died after a couple of years of hard labor in a spice mine, and Doren felt helpless to do anything about it. But don't tell him you know anything about this."

Soraa and Ja'Ina silently nodded in agreement. Their hearts broke for Doren and they better understood his attitude.

Ag'ran walked up to Soraa and Ja'Ina, bowed and grasped their hands.

"What's this about?" Soraa asked.

Raelin smiled. "He considers you his friends, and he understands your position."

Soraa smiled at the Bith. "Thank you, I'm happy to be your friend. I love the music you make!"

Ag'ran backed away, seemingly embarrassed.

Raelin wiped the blood from his long hair. "Okay, let's get back in the van and get to Jum Katar as soon as we can."

Everyone got into the repulsor van and they drove off towards the spaceport. The tension was thick enough to be cut by a vibroblade. Doren quietly sulked as he drove and Ag'ran was writing some new music down on a data pad. Raelin and Irsann conversed with the young women in the rear seats.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

* * *

There was still a lot of distance to travel to Jum Katar. By surface, it would still be well into the following day before Soraa, Ja'Ina and the band would get to the outskirts of the large spaceport if they stopped for rest at night. Given the situation with the Imperials, everyone decided it would be best to drive straight through to Jum Katar without stopping.

Other than the occasional speeder zipping by, the group did not encounter any traffic. Not many people traveled between cities on the surface, but for those who couldn't afford going by air it was the only option.

Twilight approached and the light shining onto Galathu began to turn a rich purple as Viinn took over for the setting sun. Everyone was getting tired, so Ag'ran took to driving overnight. The Bith race did not require sleep in the same manner as many other beings, so he had no problem staying up. The others would go in and out of sleep, occasionally engaging in quiet conversations.

At one point in the middle of the night, Soraa and Raelin were quietly conversing with each other. Ag'ran was still driving along, bobbing to music he was hearing inside his head. Everyone else was asleep.

Soraa tried to answer all of Raelin's questions about her. He was impressed with her blaster skills and she told him all about Goan and his tutelage. Still, it was hard for her to talk about her mentor with the wounds of his arrest and uncertain fate still very fresh.

"Anyway," Raelin redirected, "I remember seeing you at all of our shows in Sim Katall these last couple of years. I'm glad I finally got to meet you." He smiled warmly.

"Ina told me that she met you guys the first time she danced for your shows. At that time, I was still adjusting to being out of the orphanage so I spent most of my time with Goan when I wasn't home. Ina made me come out to see her dance, not just to see her dance but she figured I might like your music. We both know now that she was right."

Raelin nodded. "Yeah, she was right. Irsann got to know Ja'Ina first. The first time she danced with us was just for a couple of percussion-only jam songs. Irsann would actually improvise with Ja'Ina dancing to the beats. That turned out so well that we had her dance for our regular shows. Between you and me, I think our shows got more popular because of her."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Soraa agreed. "She's always been an amazing dancer, even when we were little."

"Oh, I'm sure of that. Anyway, we would have loved to have Ja'Ina tour with us but she wouldn't have any of that. She didn't want to leave you alone."

"Ina never told me she had turned down such an opportunity! I had no idea. I would have insisted she go with you."

"She must have known that. Well, don't tell her I told you about it."

Their conversation continued for a while until Soraa grew sleepy. Raelin offered her his shoulder, which she gladly accepted. She fell asleep leaning against him and holding his hand, which gave him the best night of sleep he'd had in a long time.

* * *

Dawn was just breaking when Jum Katar was within sight. Ja'Ina awoke first. Ag'ran was still driving along with no sign of fatigue. She made her way to the front compartment where Doren was still sleeping in the passenger seat. Ja'Ina couldn't believe the sight through the windscreen.

Ja'Ina leaned over to Ag'ran and whispered, "That's it, isn't it?"

Ag'ran turned to her and nodded affirmative. She returned to the passenger compartment and woke up Soraa.

"Soraa, Soraa! Look, we're almost there!"

Soraa was slow to rouse. "W-w-whaa? What is it, Ina?"

"We're almost to Jum Katar! Go take a look!" She pointed to the front compartment.

Soraa stumbled to the front and looked out the windscreen. She blinked hard a couple of times. Ahead of them towards the right, nearly one-hundred kilometers away lay the spaceport of Jum Katar. It was the only spaceport on Galathu and by far the largest place Soraa and Ja'Ina had ever seen.

To say Jum Katar dwarfed Sim Katall would be an understatement. The majority of Galathu's population resided in the spaceport. The rest lived in small towns and settlements, such as Sim Katall, that dotted the land around the spaceport no farther than a few hours' travel by airspeeder.

Amongst Jum Katar's sprawl, the tallest structures dominated one side of the skyline. Soraa could see many ships of many kinds flying above the spaceport. Traffic on the road increased as they got closer and more airspeeders could be seen flying not far overhead.

Soraa couldn't contain herself anymore. She cried out, "There it is!"

Her exclamation startled poor Ag'ran. Doren jumped out of his seat, wide awake and not happy. He growled and bared his sharpened teeth at Soraa.

To keep things civil with Doren, Soraa retreated to the passenger seats. Raelin and Irsann woke to Soraa's exclamation. They smiled at the young woman's excitement.

Raelin took over driving for the final stretch. The Imperial checkpoint would be coming up soon and he preferred to deal with them.

Surface traffic was backed up on the road leading up to the Imperial checkpoint. The checkpoint's prime features were two tall spires on either side of the road, which were embedded with a suite of sensors and surveillance equipment. Next to it was a small compound with a couple of small buildings. Two troopers with tripod-mounted blaster cannons stood next to the entrance, one inside the checkpoint and one outside. On both sides of the checkpoint were several troopers with speeder bikes parked off to the side and a Lambda-class shuttle sat on a landing pad next to the compound. Four troopers with heavy blaster rifles handled the incoming traffic. Tension rose inside the band's van, but the young women were the most nervous of the group.

Raelin turned back to Soraa and Ja'Ina. "Don't worry, we always have to go through this at the spaceport. Let me handle it and everything will be okay. Just keep your weapons out of sight, especially the blasters."

Soraa quickly stowed her blasters away in her rucksack. She had no intentions of using them anyway.

A trooper with rank insignia of a sergeant motioned them forward to the entrance. Raelin stopped the van right in front of him. Another trooper stepped up and ordered everyone out of the van. Raelin, Irsann, Doren and Ag'ran stood side-by-side. Ja'Ina and Soraa nervously joined them next to Ag'ran. Raelin handed a card to the sergeant, who then took it and inserted it into a hand-held reader. It was an Imperial registry card for the band. Another trooper searched the van.

"What is your business in Jum Katar?" the sergeant gruffly asked.

"We have a show to perform here and then we'll be taking a transport to Krrad for a couple more shows." Raelin always acted as the band's spokesman.

The trooper read the display on the card reader. "Hmmm, 'Sea of Lights'... You're listed as 'Scarlet' with the Imperial Board of Culture. You do not perform any music that is critical of the Empire's authority?"

"Look, we don't get involved in politics," Raelin answered.

"However, since you don't promote Imperial authority either and have these non-humans here, you have a license fee of one-thousand credits in order to perform in Jum Katar."

It was only within the last standard year that the Empire had established a presence in Jum Katar. The band had to go through this kind of thing every time they dealt with the Imperial authorities and it never ceased to irk Raelin. The singer couldn't help but respond in a terse manner.

"Yeah, yeah I know."

"Watch your tone or you will be arrested for contempt."

Raelin quietly nodded.

The trooper read more of the band's dossier from the card reader. "Wait! The registry lists four members here. Who are these two?" He pointed at the young women.

Raelin was prepared for such a question. "These lovely ladies are our new back-up singers and dancers – Ja'Ina and Soraa. We just recently hired them and I hadn't had the chance to update our identification."

Raelin shot a glance over to Doren, worried he might say something. The Zabrak stood there stone-faced.

The trooper closely looked over the women. He paused as if he was able to see right through them with his helmet's optics. After a tense moment, he gestured the third trooper.

The new trooper stood at attention, "Yes, Sergeant!"

"What do you think about their story, Corporal?"

The tension in the air skyrocketed higher than the traffic over the spaceport. Soraa and Ja'Ina nervously smiled at the Stormtroopers, unable to tell what they were thinking underneath their helmets.

The corporal looked over the young women for a few tense moments. "I think we need a demonstration of their talents."

"I agree, Corporal." The sergeant pointed at Soraa and Ja'Ina. "You heard him! Let's see what you've got."

Raelin stammered, "I assure you sir, that won't be necessary!"

The sergeant turned to the singer, pointing a finger in his face. "One more time, and you all will be spending a couple of nights in detention! Do you understand?"

Raelin quietly responded, "Yes…" He hoped the women could convince the Stormtroopers of their talents.

Unnoticed by the troopers, who were focused on Soraa and Ja'Ina, Doren whispered to Irsann, "This'll be interesting."

Irsann responded by giving the Zabrak a quick back-handed slap on the shoulder.

Soraa and Ja'Ina looked at each other and nodded, trying to look confident.

Ja'Ina counted them off, "One…Two…Three…Four."

She started to dance and snap her fingers to the tempo, then started singing one of the Sea of Lights' songs. While she moved with alluring grace, her voice was shrill and quite out-of-tune.

Quickly, Soraa joined in with her vocals. Luckily, she actually had a decent voice and could sing on pitch. Unfortunately, she could hardly dance. All she could do was shimmy her narrow hips a little bit and turn around in place. Had the circumstances been different, the display would have been comical. The band mates tried hard to conceal their nervousness. They weren't certain the ruse would hold up.

The trooper sergeant held up his hand. "Okay, that's enough."

Soraa and Ja'Ina stopped abruptly and awaited the verdict. The Stormtroopers stared at the young women then spoke amongst themselves. It seemed an eternity before the sergeant addressed the group again.

"Alright, you're free to go." The deception somehow worked.

Raelin breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Officer."

The sergeant continued with a rude tone. "However, the short dark-haired girl should keep her mouth shut and the tall skinny one should stand still..." The trooper pointed in turn at each woman as he spoke. "…Unless you want the audience to throw rotten muja fruit at you!" He laughed mockingly at the women.

The singer smiled nervously. "Thank you for your constructive criticism, Officer."

The other trooper returned from searching the repulsor van. "Everything seems to be clear, sir."

The sergeant turned back to Raelin, handing him the card. "For having two unregistered people in your group, your fee is now doubled!"

Upset, Doren blurted out, "What?!"

"Would you like it doubled again?"

The Zabrak shook his head with a grumble.

"Sorry, officer," Raelin said. "My horned friend here can get cranky sometimes."

"If you can't keep him properly controlled," the Stormtrooper sergeant barked, "then put him on a leash!"

Raelin chuckled, trying to make light of the harsh comment. "That might not be a bad idea, officer!" Raelin turned to his bass player. "Doren, you behave yourself now," Raelin said to the Zabrak with a wink.

Doren scowled back at him. Raelin then paid the trooper.

"Move along," the sergeant said. "And keep your noses clean. We will be watching you."

"Great! We'll reserve a couple of tickets for you," Raelin hit back.

The sergeant stepped into Raelin's face. "Don't get cute, nerf-herder!"

Raelin silently nodded as the Stormtrooper turned and walked away from him. The group got back into the repulsor van and slowly drove through the checkpoint. Spread out before them was the spaceport city Jum Katar.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

* * *

It was mid-morning as Soraa, Ja'Ina and the band arrived into the real heart of Jum Katar. Traffic on the ground and in the air was heavy. There were beings of all different kinds as far as the eye could see, walking along the streets, riding beasts or driving speeders. To the young women, the streets seemed to go on forever, and there were countless intersections with other streets creating an endless maze.

In Sim Katall, the tallest building reached four stories. That was the height of the shortest buildings Soraa and Ja'Ina could see in Jum Katar, the majority of which easily reached dozens of stories. The structures were grouped so close together that most of the direct morning sunlight did not yet reach the street's surface.

The group made their way through the city streets until they reached the hotel. Raelin turned the repulsorlift van off the street into the hotel's speeder park and everyone got out.

The constant rush of noise and motion nearly overwhelmed Soraa and Ja'Ina. It was still a bit chilly so Soraa donned her black jacket opened over her tube top and Ja'Ina wore a wrap around her shoulders.

Exuded from the beings all around her, Ja'Ina could sense mental energies that were varied in type and intensity. To her, the blend of those energies was like a psychological white noise. She focused herself to filter out the distraction.

The six walked down the busy sidewalk with Raelin and Soraa in front. Ja'Ina chose to stay to the rear to keep an eye on everyone. Soraa was visibly nervous, so Raelin helped her to relax. He didn't want her to feel stressed-out, or look like she was guilty of some wrongdoing.

The amount of foot and vehicle traffic just did not compare to what Soraa and Ja'Ina were used to in Sim Katall. It was very crowded and noisy, and the air was not nearly as clean. There were many different species of sentients all around, most of which the young women had never seen before. Humans were still the most common but not as obviously so here. There were also a lot more droids buzzing about. Soraa and Ja'Ina were used to automatons that were tied to specific places like The Haven. But these mechanicals appeared to be moving along about their own independent business. The whole thing was astounding to the young women.

The presence of Imperial troops throughout the city only added to Soraa's and Ja'Ina's uneasiness. Soraa had to fight the urge to grab her hold-out blaster and keep it in her hand. Raelin finally took her hand into his as they walked and she was able to relax. He enjoyed holding her hand as well.

Irsann saw Raelin and Soraa holding hands and started to poke fun at them. "Look at you two! Aren't you a cute couple! When's the big day going to be?"

Doren joined in with an annoying cackle.

Raelin glanced back with a smile at Irsann and waved his fist in the air. "Keep it up and I'll give you a _big day_ you Kowakian monkey-lizard!"

Meanwhile, at the back of the group, Ja'Ina worked hard to keep aware of her surroundings in the unfamiliar environment.

The hotel was called the Jum Katar Imperial Towers, one of the nicer hotels near the spaceport itself. The band regularly stayed there, and was given perks and discounts by the management. Thanks to their connection to the band, Soraa and Ja'Ina were able to get a nice room that they normally couldn't afford. Once everyone was settled in their rooms, they met in the lobby.

For the next several hours, Raelin and the band took Soraa and Ja'Ina around to different parts of Jum Katar. The young women were absolutely amazed with the city. The expansiveness of the place was near incomprehensible compared to the quaint little town Sim Katall was. The stress of the information overload was quickly replaced by the excitement of their new adventure. Their troubles in Sim Katall already seemed light-years away.

To avoid any potential trouble, Soraa chose to not carry either of her blaster pistols, but she still concealed her hold-out blaster in her boot. She felt safer being in a group, but the memory of what happened the one time she didn't carry her miniature weapon burned too strongly for her to be comfortable without it ever again.

The outing lasted until the late afternoon. Tired, everyone returned to the hotel and rested for a short while before getting ready for the show.

* * *

That evening, The Sea of Lights had a gig at a nearby club called The Outworlder. This club catered specifically to live shows as opposed to DJ music, and as the name suggested it was popular with off-world visitors. Raelin and the band got to the club fairly early in order to set up their gear, and young women joined them.

Soraa and Ja'Ina sat at a table in the front of the stage that was reserved for the band. The club was already packed and noisy; the crowd was much larger than any the band had back in Sim Katall. Clearly, they made more money when they played here than any of the smaller towns.

The young women ordered complimentary drinks, courtesy of The Outworlder for being with the band. Soraa ordered her usual Nimu ale, and in a rare instance Ja'Ina ordered a mild wine called Naiana. It was made on Cerea, which was situated at the end of the Great Gran Run, the hyperspace route nearest to Galathu. Naiana had a pleasantly sweet flavor and was not particularly intoxicating. Ja'Ina did not like how most alcoholic beverages dimmed her senses, but she found this one acceptable.

As soon as the band started their first set, the crowd got into it. Whenever they performed in Jum Katar or Krrad City, they played only their faster, heavier songs. They saved the more ambient pieces for the sleepy towns like Sim Katall. With the more upbeat music, it was always like a wild party. The Outworlder employed a capable staff of bouncers that ensured that things didn't get too out of hand. It was guaranteed every night that at least a few raucous patrons would have to be ejected from the establishment.

While she always danced whenever The Sea of Lights performed in Sim Katall, tonight Ja'Ina was content to sit and enjoy the performance from the audience. She and Soraa toasted each other, clanging their drinks together in celebration of the start of their new phase of life.

The show went on and the band performed at the top of their craft. Many of the songs went into extended jams where Raelin would get the crowd to sing along in all their drunken, out-of-tune glory. In the middle of it all, Soraa and Ja'Ina were having the best night of their lives.

* * *

The night went by fast and before anyone knew it, the show was over and the club was closing. The crowd cleared out, leaving Soraa and Ja'Ina alone with the band as they tore down their gear and packed everything up.

Everyone got back to the hotel, exhausted but happy. Raelin and the band felt they put on quite possibly the best show they ever had before, and the young women loved it as well. The night was enough to help everyone to put their earlier run-ins with the Imperial Stormtroopers behind them.

They all met in the first-floor lounge to spend some more time together before retiring for the night. It was beyond late and the group had the place to themselves. A lone musical droid sat in the far corner playing schmaltzy music that was best kept inside turbolifts.

"Congratulations on a show well-played," Ja'Ina toasted the band.

Everyone lifted their beverages, this time non-alcoholic, in response.

"The crowd was great tonight," Irsann said. "Their energy just propelled me along the whole time!"

Doren chuckled. "I didn't think you'd stop playing that blasted drum solo of yours!"

"Hey I still let you have some fun, didn't I?"

"Okay, I did get to play my bass solo too. But I didn't steal as much time as you did!" The Zabrak slapped Irsann's back.

Raelin shook his head. "Alright guys, it's not about how many minutes you get in the spotlight!"

Doren jokingly mocked the singer. "Look who's talking. Mister I'm-always-in-the-spotlight!"

Everyone laughed at the bass player's quip. Even Ag'ran could be heard quietly chuckling. Raelin winked at Soraa, who then looked away from him.

The young woman quickly stood up. "Excuse me, but I need to go to bed now. You all have a good night…"

Ja'Ina reached out for her. "Soraa, wait a minute-"

Soraa had already left the table. Ja'Ina looked back at Raelin, who shook his head. They both knew that it was more than her just being tired.

"Stay put," he told Ja'Ina. "I'll go see what's going on."

Ja'Ina nodded in reply, and Raelin shot out of his chair and briskly went after Soraa. She was clearly upset.

Raelin caught up to Soraa as she was waiting for the turbolift to take her back up to her room. She turned to see him quickly approaching, and then reflexively punched the control again, as if it would make the lift car arrive more quickly.

"Hey, what's going on?" Raelin asked. "Are you okay?"

Not moving her eyes from the lift doors, Soraa replied, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just going to bed."

Raelin stepped up and stood next to her, also looking at the lift. He glanced at her, but her gaze didn't stray from the doors. He sighed exaggeratedly, which caught Soraa's attention. She couldn't help but look at him, which was what he wanted. He looked back at her with a smile, but said nothing.

The lift doors opened and they both stepped inside. Before Soraa could enter the floor number, Raelin punched the control to take them to the roof.

"What're you doing?" Soraa asked, confused and annoyed.

"That's fine if you want to go to bed, but I want to show you something first."

"Look, I'm tired and don't want to go anywhere but my room."

Soraa reached for the control, but Raelin grabbed her arm to stop her. She grunted at him with a sour expression.

"C'mon, it's just a short side-trip." He smiled at her again.

"Fine, whatever…"

The lift briskly carried them to the roof, which was forty stories up. The doors opened up to an expansive view of Jum Katar's skyline from the observation deck. The night sky was mostly clear of clouds and Viinn once again dominated the view. The city lights were so bright that the lavender hue from the giant planet could only be made out on some of the shadowed sides of the buildings and structures. The constant wash of noises from the air and surface traffic sounded like innumerable mechanical insects.

Soraa walked over to the guardrail. "Wow! This is incredible!"

Raelin stepped up next to her. "I thought you'd like to see this. I know there's no way for you to be this high up in Sim Katall without being in an airspeeder."

"Yeah…" She nodded with a big smile on her face. "Thank you." She gave Raelin a long tight hug. Truthfully, she didn't want to let him go.

Raelin could read her feelings. "Don't worry; we'll be gone for only a little while." He took her by the shoulders and pushed her back a little so he could see her face. Tears began to fall from her caramel eyes.

He took her back in his arms again. "You really want to leave, don't you?"

With her face buried in his long hair on his shoulder, Soraa answered, "Uh huh."

"You said you were going to wait for us and not just jump on the first starship you came across."

She brought herself back up to face him. "I know, but we're so close now. So close to finally leaving Galathu… But I don't want to leave you either."

"Well, I'd say that's quite the quandary, hmm?" He smiled warmly at her.

Soraa growled in frustration. "I don't know what to do!"

"You must do what you feel is right for you. That way it won't be something you'll regret later on."

Soraa dwelt on Raelin's words for a few moments as she looked out over the city. For so long, she and Ja'Ina had longed for the day they could leave their backwater world. She hadn't counted on meeting someone she would fall for, someone who could make it worth her while to stay. She felt she should have seen it coming when she first saw Raelin at The Haven a couple of years back and felt an immediate attraction. She never imagined he would reciprocate that attraction.

Raelin snapped her out of her thoughts. "How about this… I'd rather you stay for now, at least until we get back from Krrad. But I do understand your desire to leave."

Soraa raised her eyes at him, her lip quivering.

"We travel between here and Krrad and that's it. So if you do decide to leave, you'll know where to find me. I _will_ wait for you." He locked his eyes with hers.

"I know…"

Raelin took Soraa in his arms again and this time drew her in and kissed her. She closed her eyes and surrendered to the soft, warm touch of his lips to hers. He held the kiss firm but not overbearing. She found an indescribable comfort and peace in his arms and with his kiss. It seemed to last forever.

When it was finished, Soraa slowly opened her eyes and found Raelin was looking straight into them with a loving smile. She then realized that was her very first kiss. It was everything she imagined it would be, and more. With his arm around her, they silently walked back to the lift and returned to their rooms.

* * *

After Soraa and Raelin left, the others stayed in the lounge until it was almost dawn. Everyone slept in late, almost to mid-day. The band would be leaving for Krrad in a couple of hours to play a few shows in Krrad City, the only spaceport and real city on the moon. Most of the settlements were small and mobile and tied to the numerous bronzium mining operations.

Krrad was, for the most part, a barren rock save for large sub-surface water reservoirs. As such, they relied on Galathu for the majority of goods and services, including entertainment. Bands like The Sea of Lights always had guaranteed audiences in Krrad City. The miners worked hard and enjoyed their free time to the fullest.

Later on, Soraa, Ja'Ina, Raelin, Doren, Ag'ran and Irsann waited together at the spaceport terminal as the band's flight to Krrad was about to begin boarding. The terminal was packed with passengers boarding the flight. As part of Galathu's administration of Krrad, all inter-system travel to the smaller moon had to go through Jum Katar first.

The band and the young women hugged and shared good-byes as the boarding call rang over the intercom. Soraa and Ja'Ina watched the band board the shuttle bound for Krrad City. The last to go, Raelin turned and gave a last smile and wave to Soraa, who waved back to him with a tear on her cheek.

Ja'Ina looked at her friend, but didn't say anything. She knew that Soraa had fallen for the singer, but did not want to prod her about it. Ja'Ina could feel the struggle within her friend, the struggle with the choice of staying or leaving Galathu. She took Soraa's hand and waved goodbye to Raelin as well.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

* * *

With Raelin and the others departed to Krrad, Soraa and Ja'Ina could explore Jum Katar on their own. Depending on how many shows the band could secure, they would be in Krrad City for about a week.

Raelin insisted that the young women stay on Galathu while they were gone to consider whether or not leaving was truly what they wanted to do. So the two friends decided to try to experience all they could while they were in the spaceport.

There was a popular club within walking distance from the hotel that Soraa and Ja'Ina wanted to check out. So they got dressed in their 'going-out' outfits - Soraa's skin-tight iridescent unitard and Ja'Ina's criss-cross halter and slit skirt. Raelin warned them that there was zero tolerance for weapons in the clubs so the women left theirs in their room, except for Soraa's trusty hold-out blaster. She did not want to leave without it, even though she risked spending many years in a prison facility if she were caught with it. That was a chance Soraa was more than willing to take, so she hid it in her boot as usual.

"I can't wait to get to the club and see what it's about!" Soraa exclaimed.

Ja'Ina as usual was the more reasonable voice. "Just remember that we're still in unfamiliar territory. There's going to be a lot of people there, all kinds of people. You never know if there will be trouble. This won't be like The Haven."

Soraa was getting a bit annoyed with her over-protective friend. "C'mon, Ina! People are going to be there to have a good time, not to be troublemakers! Besides, with the way the Imperial authorities are, only idiots would dare try anything."

"I suppose you're right."

They both looked each other over, admiring the other's outfit. They looked forward to having some fun flirting with men at the club, knowing that their choice of attire usually garnered much attention from those of the opposite sex. The young women knew they were attractive and liked having fun with it.

Soraa and Ja'Ina confidently strutted down the sidewalk. Already they were attracting attention from many males around them. What they didn't expect was that not all of the attracted males were human. They weren't sure how to take being ogled by non-humans, but they just smiled at each other and continued walking to the club. As the friends got closer to the nightlife district, the crowds on the street got bigger and it seemed like more Stormtroopers were patrolling the area.

Without Raelin and the others with them, Soraa and Ja'Ina felt a little nervous when they spotted Imperials nearby. The young women had to trust that there was no way for the troopers to know that they committed acts of assault, murder and vandalism against agents of the Empire just by looking at them among the street-side crowds.

After about fifteen minutes of walking, the young women arrived at the club. It was called Nightbeat, and was one of the more-popular of the dozen clubs in the area near the spaceport proper. There was a very long line to get in, and they could hear the bassy beats of the loud music coming from the club where they stood.

Ja'Ina produced the special I.D. card that Raelin gave her. "Hopefully this thing will work for us," she said.

Raelin said that it would identify them as entertainers and should allow them immediate access to any club so long as they perform at least a little while they're there. For Ja'Ina that would be no problem since it could legitimately apply to her. But Soraa wasn't even remotely a performer. They gave it a try anyway.

Soraa and Ja'Ina walked right up to the entrance, causing those near the front of the line to audibly grumble and complain. At the door was a large, muscular humanoid nearly two-and-a-half meters tall. He spoke in broken Basic with a deep, thick-accented voice. He was an imposing sight, but acted quite civilized.

He looked down at the young women. "What do you want?" He spoke as if he expected to hear some kind of lame reason he should let them in right then and there.

Ja'Ina stepped forward and presented the entertainer card. The doorman reached his long arms down to take the card from the petite woman's hands, which were dwarfed by his enormous four-fingered hands.

Ja'Ina tried to hide her nervousness. "W-we're dancers, looking to get in and dance for the crowd!"

The doorman looked intently at the card and then the women. All Soraa could do was nod quickly and smile at him.

"Hmmmmm," his voice boomed almost as deeply as the music inside the club. "Let's see some moves!"

Ja'Ina was more than happy to oblige. She started with a gentle spin then broke into hypnotic gyrations accented with high kicks to the rhythms of the music inside the club. The people at the head of the line watched in amazement as she executed some more moves that seemed to defy normal agility. The onlookers applauded the impromptu show. Ja'Ina turned to the crowd and gave them a small bow.

The doorman turned to Soraa, who stood in the background trying to be inconspicuous. "You now!"

Soraa gulped. She had to demonstrate her non-existent dancing skills. If she blew it, both her and Ja'Ina would probably be denied access and sent to the back of the ever-growing line, if they would be let in at all.

"Uh, o-okay..."

She shot a quick glance to Ja'Ina, who nodded at her with a reassuring smile.

Soraa stood still for a moment with her eyes closed, trying to relax and feel the music. She tried to imagine that she was listening to The Sea of Lights' music with Raelin's captivating voice, which helped a little.

She started shaking her hips and raised her hands in the air, one palm up and the other palm down. She tried to move her arms to the music and tilted her head back as she turned around. She was imitating a dance-like ritual she saw once on a holo-documentary about a little-known religious group. The doorman stood there silently watching Soraa, clearly not impressed.

Ja'Ina sensed his dissatisfaction. "Please excuse my companion here, she's my student and still has much to learn."

The doorman bent down and pointed a thick finger right in Ja'Ina's face. "You, I like much!"

He turned to Soraa and did the same. "You, not so much!"

He turned back to Ja'Ina. "You need to teach her much more. I let you in this time. Next time, I want her to dance better!"

She looked directly into his eyes. "Oh yes! I will work her very hard in the studio for the next few weeks. When we come back, you will see a difference. That is a promise."

"Okay, I'll remember that!" He returned Ja'Ina's card and let them in.

Ja'Ina took Soraa's arm and pulled her through the door.

Soraa called back to the doorman. "Thank you!"

He gave a booming, unintelligible response.

* * *

Soraa and Ja'Ina walked into Nightbeat and were amazed with the sight. First of all, the music was deafeningly loud. The bass beats reverberated through their bodies; it felt like their internal organs would come loose. The club was mostly one sprawling space with different sections. There were multiple bar counters, some couches and chairs with tables and some game tables. The centerpiece was the large dance floor. The club was dimly lit for the most part, outside of a few various localized light sources. But the dance floor was lit quite brightly with flashing strobes and canisters in various colors. The Xexto DJ was positioned off to the side with many beings hanging around his mixing desk. Each of his four long, thin arms was busy with different aspects of his large, complicated audio rig.

The club was packed with beings of many species. Here, there was more of the non-human species present than human or near-human. There were all manner of dress, from full formal outfits down to the most daringly skimpy outfits that many female patrons wore.

Soraa and Ja'Ina walked over to one of the bars. There was no place to sit so they had to squeeze in between a couple of patrons sitting there.

One drunken patron took notice of Soraa's tightly clad rear and grabbed it. She yelped and quickly spun around to face her assaulter. With lightning reflexes she reached for her hidden hold-out blaster. Ja'Ina instantly sensed the situation and grabbed Soraa's arm before she could reach her boot. Her reflexes were even quicker than Soraa's.

"This one's not worth your trouble," Ja'Ina reassured her friend.

"You gotta be kidding me, Ina! That sleemo can't get away with such behavior!"

They both looked at the man, who smiled lustfully back at the young women. His head slightly bobbed with inebriation. Without warning, Ja'Ina landed an open-handed punch right in the lecher's face. He dropped to the floor into a crumpled heap. The patrons around them who watched the whole exchange applauded the young women then went back to their own business. No one bothered to pick the unconscious man off the floor.

"You're absolutely right, Soraa," Ja'Ina said with a smile, brushing her hands together.

The friends turned back to the bar and ordered their drinks. Soraa ordered her usual Nimu ale. Ja'Ina decided to order another glass of Naiana wine, which she enjoyed the night before at The Outworlder.

They both took their drinks and made their way through the crowded club towards the dance floor. Ja'Ina was not lying to the doorman about wanting to entertain the crowd with her dancing, and she looked forward to getting out on the floor.

They reached the edge of the floor and watched everyone who was dancing. The music was even louder at the floor, the speakers were as tall as a person, and there were several of them lined around the floor.

There were quite a number of beings out on the floor, but it wasn't too crowded. Most everyone just moved to the music, not doing anything worth notice.

There were, however, two women on the floor who were dancing together in unison. As the music picked up so did they, executing more intricate moves. The crowd on the floor opened up around them to give them more space and visibility to the rest of the club.

Now Soraa and Ja'Ina could see them more clearly. Both were female. One was a human with light skin and short brown hair that didn't quite reach her shoulders. The other was a deep blue-skinned Rutian Twi'lek, the first Twi'lek Soraa and Ja'Ina had ever seen in person.

The dancers wore matching low-cut leotards that looked of liquid silver and hung loosely over their slender but curvy forms. They also wore silver slippers on their feet. They moved with very sensual grace that was almost erotic, as if to entice any males who found them attractive.

The dancers slowly turned themselves around to face the other direction, and Soraa and Ja'Ina were shocked by what they saw. While the dancers' costumes fully covered them in the front, the back side consisted of only a few narrow silver straps leaving practically nothing to the imaginations of the howling crowd.

Soraa and Ja'Ina didn't really have a problem with seeing revealing outfits, but this sight still was unexpected. There really wasn't anyone in Sim Katall who ran around in daring clothing, outside of Ja'Ina and Soraa. And even then, their outfits weren't as daring as these.

Ja'Ina took another drink of her wine and handed it to Soraa, making her way down to the floor to join the dancers.

Soraa called out, "Ina, wait!"

Ja'Ina sensed Soraa's concern, but in the excitement she ignored it.

Ja'Ina walked onto the floor with a hypnotic strut and began dancing next to the other dancers. Her entrance was met with more howls and cheers from the audience. The silver-clad pair stopped and watched Ja'Ina for a moment, smiling and clearly impressed.

This was the largest audience that Ja'Ina performed for by far, but she loved the attention. The details in the light fabric of her outfit sparkled in the colored lights as she spun around. She kicked her leg out through the slit in her skirt that opened up to her hip, and spun on her other foot. Then she stepped forward onto her airborne foot, arching her back and reaching her arms outward.

The other dancers then took positions on either side of her and began dancing again. They kept their moves coordinated, and Ja'Ina actually began to match them step after step. The other dancers were amazed; it was as if she had rehearsed with them before and knew the routine.

The DJ noticed the spectacle and changed the music up to a faster tempo, which the dancers easily followed. The three danced together for several minutes to the non-stop music. Soraa took a big swig of her ale and continued to watch with her eyes wide with surprise.

After several minutes of dancing, Ja'Ina stopped and gave a small bow both to the crowd and to the other dancers. They bowed back and gestured to her, getting the audience to applaud her as she walked off the floor.

Ja'Ina made her way back up to Soraa and grabbed her wine. She was out of breath and sweating a little.

"Wow! That was so much fun! Did you see that, Soraa?"

"Yeah Ina, that was amazing! You're such a natural!"

"I can't wait to do that again. Maybe I really have something here, could be my calling in life!"

"That's good, Ina. I don't think it will be hard for you to get a paying job, wherever we end up."

Soraa was genuinely happy for Ja'Ina, but felt inadequate since she didn't have such marketable skills. Ja'Ina sensed her friend was feeling down.

Ja'Ina wanted to reassure Soraa. "Come on; let me buy you another ale."

They started to walk off to the bar when the silver-clad dancers walked up behind them.

"Hey, hold on a second!" the Twi'lek dancer called out.

Soraa and Ja'Ina turned around, startled to see the two dancers standing right there.

The dancer continued, addressing Ja'Ina, "we're part of a professional troupe and would like you to meet our manager."

Ja'Ina was surprised. "M-me?"

"Yeah, he watched you perform with us and wants to get to know more about you."

Ja'Ina looked at Soraa, who shrugged back.

"It's alright Ina, go ahead. I'll catch up with you later."

"No, no, no," the Twi'lek replied. "Please join us!"

"But I'm not a-"

"That doesn't matter. C'mon!"

The dancer turned back to Ja'Ina. "Waddy'a say? Hmm?"

Ja'Ina could hardly keep her excitement. "Okay! Let's go meet this person, Soraa."

"I don't know..." Soraa still was unsure, given her non-existent performance skills.

The dancers started walking off. Ja'Ina grabbed Soraa's arm and pulled her along as she followed them.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

* * *

Soraa and Ja'Ina followed the dancers back to a remote corner in the back of the club. The friends were still in awe of their daring costumes as they looked at their practically naked backsides. The dancers would probably been arrested for indecent exposure dressed like that in Sim Katall.

They reached a booth with a round table in the center. A dim light hung from the ceiling which shone down on the table. A well-dressed chubby man with a large, wide upturned nose and orange eyes sat at far side of the table. His grey skin was covered with small wart-like bumps. These were the outward characteristics of his species, Kusolan. His kind was considered ugly by most other species' standards, and he didn't care a bit about it.

There was a young red-skinned Zeltron woman sitting on his right and another Twi'lek woman, this one with tan skin, on his left. There were drinks in front of them and he was smoking a thick cigar laced with a little bit of spice that filled the air with slightly-intoxicating smoke. The Kusolan was talking to his companions when the dancers walked up with Soraa and Ja'Ina. He looked up at the new arrivals and his face lit up. He spoke Basic with a nasally tone.

He spoke to Ja'Ina first. "Aaaahhh! Welcome my dear! Welcome! What is your name?"

Ja'Ina replied, "Uhh, Ja'Ina, Ja'Ina Anour."

His tone lowered a bit and gently shook Ja'Ina's hand. "What a lovely name, indeed... And who is your beautiful friend?"

Soraa blushed, "I'm Soraa Matii. Who are you?"

He spoke up proudly. "The name's Mehar! Mehar Fuhar."

He shooed his Zeltron and Twi'lek companions away, and patted the bench next to him. "Please, come join me, pretty ladies! Let's talk, shall we?"

Soraa and Ja'Ina reluctantly sat to his right. He looked up at the silver-clad dancers.

"Tira, Dun'ii, be good girls and refresh their drinks. Nimu ale and Naiana wine, am I right?"

Ja'Ina and Soraa both nodded, surprised that he could recognize their drinks by looking at their nearly-empty glasses.

Dun'ii, the Twi'lek dancer answered him, "Sure thing Mehar." Mehar stared at the dancers with a smile as they walked off to the bar.

Mehar put his cigar down and looked at Ja'Ina and Soraa, who were clearly confused.

"I know you probably have many questions. 'Who is this guy? Why does he want to talk to me?' And so on."

Ja'Ina spoke up, a bit surprised that he said exactly what she was thinking. "How did you know that?"

Mehar let out a loud, snorting laugh. "My dear, I'm a talent scout. Everyone I've approached has had the same questions, understandably so. Here's my card."

He handed Ja'Ina a business holo-card that read _Mehar Fuhar, Manager, Talent Scout, Fuhar Entertainment Agency_. His ugly face projected from the card with a friendly smile.

"I'm looking for all kinds of talent, but especially dancers and singers. There's much money to be made out there in the galaxy, and I want to help make that happen for talented young women just like you."

Soraa cut in, still feeling self-conscious. "Then why am _I_ here?"

Mehar looked at Soraa for a moment then chuckled. "Sweetheart, everyone has talents. Some just don't recognize it in themselves. Even if you're not a dancer like Ja'Ina here, I'm sure you can do something for my agency. You look like such close friends, it'd be wrong of me to split you up."

Ja'Ina grabbed her friend by the shoulder and gave her a sideways hug. "Yeah, we've known each other since we were little."

Mehar gave another snorting laugh. "Well then, there you have it." He accentuated with a slap on the table that startled the young friends.

Just then, Dun'ii and Tira reappeared with Soraa and Ja'Ina's drinks. They placed them in front of the young women and sat across the table to Mehar's left.

"Now then, where are you ladies from?"

"From a small town not far from here," Soraa answered.

"Well, what are you doing in Jum Katar?"

Ja'Ina started to feel uneasy and decided to be cautious. She didn't want her or Soraa to come off as naïve or give Mehar too much information. She spoke before Soraa could answer.

"We came here looking for work. Right now, we're just having a good time seeing the spaceport."

That was the kind of thing the Kusolan wanted to hear. He picked up his spice cigar and took another puff. The fumes wafted across the table and the intoxicating scent found its way into the young women's nostrils. Soraa relaxed and took it in like a drink of ale, but Ja'Ina remained cautious and aware of the effect. She did not want the smoke to dim her senses or dull her judgment while talking to the talent agent.

Mehar addressed Ja'Ina specifically. "What kind of work are you looking for? _Surely_ it would be in the entertainment industry."

Ja'Ina hesitated, still trying to figure out where Mehar was coming from.

Soraa jumped in, not taking Ja'Ina's lead of restraint. "Yeah, Ina's a great dancer as you saw! She was very popular back in Sim Katall!"

Ja'Ina did not want to mention the name of the town they came from, but the damage was done. She noticed that Mehar perked up at the mention of the name.

"Ah, I see," he answered with much interest. "I know where that is. It's a shame that the Empire's started spreading out that way…" He eyed Soraa, who tried to hide her nervousness.

"The Empire's been giving a bit of a squeeze to everyone who's not specifically pledging loyalty to the high-and-mighty Emperor – even I with my perfectly-legit business!"

Ja'Ina sensed uneasiness coming from nearby. She looked over at Dun'ii, who was looking right at her with a slight smile, and then to Tira, who was looking down at the table.

The Kusolan continued. "I have no love for the Empire, but there's no way I'm getting in the middle of them and the rebellion! There's an old Twi'lek saying that one should ride through the heat storms, not fight them. Right, Dun'ii?"

"Yeah, something like that," the Twi'lek replied.

"Anyway… Ja'Ina, how would you like to make a living as a professional dancer?" He continued before Ja'Ina could respond. "Now, I know this seems too good to be true my dear. But believe me, sometimes opportunities like this really do come along to the right people."

Soraa and Ja'Ina sat there speechless.

Dun'ii jumped in. "It was a dream come true for me. We've traveled across many systems performing for many people and seeing many worlds. It's really quite exciting! Right, Tira?"

Tira was fidgeting with one of the loose folds on her shiny leotard, not paying attention.

Dun'ii elbowed her. "Right… Tira?"

Tira looked up with a jerk and answered. "Uh, yeah that's right…" Her voice trailed off a little.

Soraa tugged her friend's arm. "This is so exciting, Ina! This is the kind of opportunity we've been-"

Ja'Ina cut her off. Soraa's naïveté was showing again.

"So how does this work? We travel around with you performing shows and that's it?"

Mehar leaned forward and locked his orange eyes with Ja'Ina's. "That's right, my dear." He sat back and continued. "You'd live on board with me and the rest of the troupe and then perform shows on the planets we stop at. Everything you need – room and board, food, clothing – everything is all covered as part of your pay. It's as simple as that."

Soraa pointed to Dun'ii and Tira, and timidly asked, "Do we have to wear those outfits?"

Dun'ii cocked her head, offended, "what's wrong with our clothes? We're dancers and entertainers!"

"That's not what she meant," Ja'Ina interjected. "Soraa isn't any kind of performer so she's not used to wearing such costumes."

The Kusolan let out another snorting belly laugh. "Well, judging by your outfit, Ja'Ina, I'd say you're fine with wearing such attire!"

"As long as I'm not practically naked, that's fine. I would _never_ do that kind of show."

Mehar shook his head and waved his hand, "Oh no, no! I'm not in _that_ kind of business, I assure you. He gestured to Dun'ii and Tira with a smile. "Would you feel comfortable wearing something like that?"

"I suppose, but it's pretty much at my limit."

"Well, don't worry! We have many different costumes, not all of them so skimpy!" He snort-laughed again.

Mehar looked at Soraa, who was still a bit nervous about this wardrobe situation. "Don't you worry either my dear! Since you're not really a dancer, you won't need to wear anything _that_ revealing. I have support positions I could hire you for." He gave the young woman a big smile.

Soraa was about to tell Mehar how good she was with a blaster and would be happy to help with security. Ja'Ina stopped her before she could say anything.

"That's good to know, Mehar." She gave a glaring glance to Soraa, who quickly dropped her blaster thought.

"What about time off?" Soraa inquired.

Mehar looked up at Soraa and chuckled. "My dear, you are a very shrewd businesswoman indeed! My performers get a reasonable amount of time off. And the longer you're with the agency, the more time off you can get! You can read it all in the contract before you sign."

Soraa sat back, satisfied. Ja'Ina was still a little bit cautious.

"Soooo, what do you say, ladies? Are you interested? If you want, you can come by our ship and check it out before you make your final decision."

"Excuse us for a moment," Ja'Ina said to Mehar.

"Sure, sure! Discuss it amongst yourselves!" He leaned back up against Dun'ii and she put her hand on his on the table. He watched the friends' discussion with great interest.

Ja'Ina whispered into Soraa's ear, "What do you think, would you be up for this?"

Soraa whispered back, "Oh, yeah! I think it's the opportunity we've been waiting for! Why do you ask?"

"I don't know, maybe I'm just being a little paranoid."

"Let's just check it out at least. What could it hurt?"

Ja'Ina thought about it for a moment then spoke up. "Okay, Mehar. We'll come see your ship and go from there."

Mehar sat back up straight with a big smile. He took Ja'Ina's hand and shook it.

"Great! Great! I'm sure you won't regret it! Once you see for yourself, I think you'll want to stay with us for the rest of your lives!"

Dun'ii reached across the table and shook Ja'Ina's hand as well. "I look forward to dancing with you again! I really enjoyed it!"

"Thanks, me too." Ja'Ina looked over at Tira, who didn't say anything. She merely gave Ja'Ina a light smile and kept her hands in her lap.

Mehar beamed. "It's settled then! Our ship is parked in docking bay one-ninety-four. Please come by at oh-eight-thirty hours tomorrow and we'll show you around!"

He picked up his fat cigar and put it back in his mouth.

"Okay, bay one-ninety-four, at eight-thirty," Soraa replied.

Soraa and Ja'Ina got up and left Mehar and the dancers in the booth. They could just make out the Kusolan's voice in the din.

"See you soon, my dears!" His words were punctuated by a hideously loud snort.

* * *

Soraa and Ja'Ina made their way back to their hotel room. They chose to discuss anything but what transpired with Mehar, Dun'ii and Tira. They waited for that until they had the privacy of their room.

When they got back to their room, Ja'Ina started the discussion.

"So what did you think of Mehar?"

"A little odd, but I think he was okay," Soraa replied as she sat down on the bed.

Ja'Ina stood near the room's entrance. "What do you mean by _odd_?"

"I dunno. Maybe I don't understand the whole thing of being a performer and having a manager. It didn't help that he had that annoying, snorting voice. And those orange eyes!"

"Well, never focus on the external with people, especially since we're among many different races here. It's not like back home where humans were the majority."

Soraa thought about it for a moment. "You're right. I suppose if he had bad intentions he'd look and sound a lot nicer. That would be more of a hook, for sure."

"Perhaps… Still, I did get some uncertain feelings when we were talking to him. I'm not sure if it's anything, especially since I can't pin it down." Ja'Ina walked towards the wardrobe by the bed to get her nightclothes.

"Well Ina, we're just going to check it out before we decide to go with him. I think it's going to be just fine, and it'll be a blast to see his ship! Besides, if something should happen, we can take care of ourselves just fine."

"I suppose so, Soraa. But I don't like to rely on that whenever we get into something unfamiliar."

"Oh, c'mon! How are you gonna live a little if there isn't some risk?"

"You're right, I guess. But we need to remember that we're not invincible."

Soraa gave a little laugh. "Now you're starting to sound like a mother!"

Ja'Ina picked up a pillow and playfully threw it at her friend. "I do _not_ sound like a mother!"

The two changed and went to bed. One way or another, they had a big day ahead of them.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

* * *

The next morning, Soraa and Ja'Ina got ready to leave with great excitement. Any trepidation they had the night before was gone. They pretty much figured it would be just fine and was the perfect way off of Galathu.

They dressed in their usual casual clothes - Soraa with her shorts and tube top combo and jacket, and Ja'Ina with her crop top and harem pants and cloak. They packed all their belongings in their rucksacks. Soraa chose to wear her DL-44 heavy blaster pistol and left the -18 in her sack. She had her hold-out blaster in her boot as always. Ja'Ina had her dagger sheathed, hidden inside the leg of her pants. She also carried her scimitar on her back, slung over her shoulder on the baldric. She used her quarterstaff like a walking stick.

Though they didn't know if they'd leave with Mehar or not, Soraa and Ja'Ina checked out of their room anyway. If it didn't work out they still had enough credits to get another room for a little while until they could find some work. But in their excitement they figured that wouldn't be the case. This was the kind of opportunity the friends had always dreamed of, and they let themselves get caught up in the moment.

Soraa and Ja'Ina took a droid-taxi to the spaceport proper. It was an amazing place on the edge of Jum Katar. They could see countless ships coming and going in the skies overhead. It was also a large place, taking up a significant fraction of the city. Mehar's ship was parked in the private concourses, so the young women didn't go to the public terminals like they did to see Raelin and the others off. The taxi dropped them off at the entrance to the concourse.

Soraa stuck the fare in the slot in the cab. "Thank you!"

The droid replied with strange beeps and whistles.

Ja'Ina looked at the directory. There were three different corridors to go down to access the docking bays. They wanted the first corridor – bays one-hundred to one-ninety-five.

Soraa was not happy about it. "Stang! It's almost to the end!"

"Look, they have a conveyer. We'll take that and it will be a little faster than walking. Besides anything worth doing will take some effort," Ja'Ina said with a smile.

"Heh, real funny Ina!" Inside, Soraa knew her friend was right.

Despite this not being the main commercial concourse of the spaceport, there were still many beings moving through the concourse. These travelers looked the part of being not tourists on vacation, but rather people who were working hard. As such, the majority of them looked grimy and rough.

Soraa noticed that just about everyone she saw, human or otherwise, carried a blaster of some kind. She was very glad to be carrying two of her blasters on her person, just in case. This was not allowed in the main areas of the spaceport due to security regulations. If someone was caught trying to board one of regular commercial flights with any weapons, they would be detained by Galathan security forces and probably even turned over to Imperial authorities for a harsher consequence. Still, people using the private concourses managed to keep civilized. Most here did not want to draw any unnecessary attention from the Empire as some of the business could be considered questionable by Imperial law.

The trip on the conveyer to docking bay one-ninety-four took longer than the young women planned, which made them late. Soraa and Ja'Ina stepped off of the conveyer as they reached the bay and walked up to the closed door.

Ja'Ina activated the com panel next to the door. "Hello? It's Soraa and Ja'Ina."

A few moments passed and a female voice answered. The women recognized it as Dun'ii, the Twi'lek dancer.

"Good morning, ladies! You're a little late."

"Sorry about that!"

"That's okay; Mehar's still prepping the ship. I'll let you in."

With that, the door slid open and Soraa and Ja'Ina walked into a short corridor with lockers on both sides that led to the actual bay. There was another door at the other end, which opened in front of them and they walked through into the bay. What they saw astonished them.

The bay was expansive, round in shape with many small bays around the perimeter filled with various equipment and hardware. The bay was open to the sky, which grew brighter with the rising sun. The constant noise of numerous ships coming and going could be heard and a light, cool breeze swirled through the space around the ship parked in the middle of the bay. Soraa and Ja'Ina expected something that would look like the passenger liners they had seen on the HoloNet broadcasts, but this vessel was different. It looked less like a transport and more like a cargo ship.

It was an old Corellian Star Shuttle armed with a single dorsally-mounted laser turret. There were very few portholes, save for a handful at the top of the ship behind the cockpit which spanned the middle of the quarter-spherical bow. The hull was weathered, but appeared to be in solid condition. It was the largest ship Soraa and Ja'Ina had ever seen in person. There were a few maintenance droids buzzing around the vessel's landing struts, presumably making final pre-flight checks.

The young women saw Dun'ii standing at the foot of a ramp leading up to a personnel hatch on the starboard side of the ship. Curiously, she was still wearing her silver dancing outfit. Soraa and Ja'Ina briskly walked towards Dun'ii and she waved at them.

"Good morning! Are you ready to see your new home? We'll actually be taking off in about a half-hour."

"We're looking forward to seeing what you're about," said Ja'Ina. She hid the concern she felt about the ship being referred to as their 'new home.'

Dun'ii noticed Soraa's clothes – her skin-tight shorts and narrow tube top under her jacket – and smiled at her.

"I thought you weren't comfortable wearing skimpy clothes," Dun'ii said with a slightly biting tone.

Soraa answered the Twi'lek, a little acidic in tone, "This isn't anything like _yours_."

"Well, you still look _good_, honey," Dun'ii said with a smug smile.

Soraa just smiled back at her, not sure how to take that comment.

Dun'ii noticed the weapons the women were carrying, but said nothing about it, betraying no thoughts about the sight.

"Without further ado, let's go," Dun'ii said, walking up the ramp.

Soraa and Ja'Ina followed Dun'ii up the ramp. They couldn't help but notice the Twi'lek's practically naked backside again. Her dark blue skin was contoured by the toned muscles of a dancer.

As they reached the doorway, Dun'ii called back, "Just follow me. I'll take you to a waiting room where Mehar will meet you after he's done with some ship's business."

"What about Tira?" Ja'Ina asked. "Will she be meeting us as well?"

"Yes, you'll get to see her soon, as well as meet all the other girls here."

The corridor was narrow and plain but was well-lit and well-kept. Soraa and Ja'Ina were amazed – they had never been inside such a ship before. They could feel the vibrations in the deck plates and heard the ship's systems as they powered up. Walking towards the front of the ship, they got to a small cylindrical lift and took it up.

The trio stepped out of the lift and Dun'ii announced, "Here we are."

"Are we near the bridge?" Soraa asked.

"It is. Mehar's there now and will come show you around in a little bit. Here's the waiting room."

They had walked a short distance from the lift and Dun'ii gestured to a door that opened up to a small conference room with a long table with chairs in the middle. The walls were adorned with art and fine tapestries and there were a few small plants accentuating the space. On the far end wall there was a large holo-projector. There were two drinks waiting for the young women on the table.

Ja'Ina turned to the Twi'lek. "So Dun'ii, are you going to stay and talk to us for a while?"

"I have some things to do as well, if you'll excuse me. Mehar will be here shortly."

Dun'ii quickly turned to leave the room, just as Soraa blurted out, "how long have you worked with Mehar?"

Dun'ii turned her head back and answered, "ummm, about two standard years now."

Soraa continued, "what about Tira?"

Dun'ii started to sound annoyed. "Tira and I joined just about the same time. All your questions will be answered very soon. Now if you'll excuse me…"

The Rutian Twi'lek briskly stepped out and the door slid closed behind her. Soraa and Ja'Ina removed their rucksacks and placed them on the table as they sat down. Ja'Ina removed her baldric and laid her quarterstaff on the table, but Soraa kept her blaster in its holster on her hip.

"So what do you think, Soraa?"

"Well, Ina, I don't have the words for my excitement! I mean, we've finally made it! We'll be leaving Galathu at last!" Soraa picked up one of the drinks.

"Aren't you worried about where we're going?"

"Not really. I'm sure it's someplace cool where we can earn more money than we ever did back home. We'll be able to see so many neat things now, and we can still come back and visit the guys."

"But I'm still not sure about all of this…" Ja'Ina's brow furrowed.

"Whaddya mean?"

"Did you notice anything on the way here?"

"No." Soraa cocked her head, confused by Ja'Ina's question.

"Exactly. Shouldn't we have at least run into a couple of performers on board? We've seen only Dun'ii so far. Mehar made it sound like he had a lot more people working for him. And what about a crew for the ship?"

"Hmmm, now that you mention it…" Soraa stood up and looked around the room.

Ja'Ina got up and walked around to investigate their surroundings. "I might just be a little paranoid, but just keep ready for anything, okay?"

Soraa nodded affirmatively.

"Good." Ja'Ina then pointed to the drink Soraa was holding. "Just in case, you'd better not drink that."

Soraa looked at her drink and then at Ja'Ina, noting her serious expression. Soraa put the drink down. "Uhhh, okay." She was starting to feel a little nervous now. "Well, I hope that Mehar comes soon. It sounds like he's ready to take off."

Ja'Ina was studying a piece of art on the wall when the door slid open without warning. She and Soraa turned to find Tira standing there, still wearing her silver leotard. She was breathing hard and looked at them with wild eyes. Her hair was a mess; she had a black eye and split lip. Her arms and legs were mottled with bruises that starkly contrasted her fair skin.

Tira spoke with fearful urgency. "Get your things! We've got to leave now!"

Soraa and Ja'Ina looked at each other, confused.

"We gotta go before they know we're gone! C'mon!"

Without questioning Tira, Ja'Ina grabbed Soraa's arm and ran over to the door, grabbing their belongings on the way out.

"What's going on here?" Soraa asked Tira as she slung her rucksack on her back.

"No time! I'll tell you on the way out! It's good you have weapons, you may need them!"

A cold chill hit Ja'Ina's spine as it sounded like her impressions may have been accurate.

Soraa and Ja'Ina followed Tira down the corridor. They could see even more bruises all over the dancer's exposed backside under the few strings that comprised the back of her costume. The women made it back to the lift and ran in. Tira quickly punched the controls to send them back down to the lower deck. She stood there, panting and visibly shaking.

Ja'Ina slung her sword onto her back. She wasn't sure what going on, but she still tried to comfort the woman. "Take it easy, everything will be okay. Tell us, what's wrong?"

Tira tried to take a deep breath and slow down. "Mehar's not a talent agent. He's a slaver, and I'm one of his slaves."

This floored both Soraa and Ja'Ina. "What?!" they simultaneously yelped.

"And if we're not outta here fast, you'll be too!"

Ja'Ina recalled the story of Doren's father. That's all she knew of the horrible practice. "You don't look like you work in a mine or something."

Tira looked straight into Ja'Ina's eyes. "There are other things slaves can be used for besides manual labor. Don't you two know anything?"

Soraa and Ja'Ina stood there silently, embarrassed by their ignorance.

"Mehar deals only in female slaves used for… _entertainment_…" Tira's voice trailed off.

The lift stopped at their floor. Tira tensed back up again.

"Be ready. He employs Gamorrean guards!"

Soraa drew her blaster. "What's a 'Gamorrean guard'?"

Ja'Ina held her quarterstaff at the ready. The lift door opened, revealing one of the large green porcine guards standing right there in front of them.

"That!" Tira blurted out.

With blinding speed, Ja'Ina thrust her 'staff into the guard's gut. This sent him squealing, flying backwards into the bulkhead. He recovered surprisingly fast given his heavy build and drew a blaster pistol.

Soraa fired a shot from her own blaster right into his chest and he went down for good.

Tira ran off again. "C'mon! This way!"

Soraa and Ja'Ina took off after her. She could run quite fast and it was difficult for the two to keep up while laden with their rucksacks. Tira got to the exit hatch, which she found sealed and locked.

"Dammit! We can't get out now! And the ship's about to take off!"

Soraa chimed in as she and Ja'Ina caught up. "Surely there's another exit!"

Tira thought for a moment. "Yes! The rear hold! Follow me!"

The three women ran further down the corridor and came to an intersection with a corridor on their right. Tira turned down it, still ahead of the others.

Before Soraa and Ja'Ina could reach the intersection, they heard Tira shriek. When they arrived and turned down the hallway they saw two more Gamorreans, one of whom had a solid hold of the slave girl. Ja'Ina dropped her quarterstaff and rucksack, and then drew her scimitar. She charged past Soraa toward the guards.

Soraa called out, "Ina! Wait!"

The one holding Tira stepped back while his partner advanced, brandishing a large force pike. Ja'Ina never dealt with a force pike before, but knew full well what they were capable of. Depending on the setting, a hit from the tip could easily incapacitate her or even tear into her body. She moved fast, but still cautious.

Ja'Ina met up with the armed Gamorrean, who thrust the pike right at her. Juking to the right, she easily avoided the charged tip. She knew that she could not match the guard with strength – she needed to rely on her speed and agility. Soraa could only stand by with her blaster aimed at the melee, ready to fire as soon as she had a clear shot at one of the Gamorreans.

The other guard dragged Tira away, who struggled in futility to break free. He had one of his large hands over her mouth, muffling her screams. Soraa stepped forward towards Ja'Ina and her opponent, looking for an opportunity to run past them to rescue Tira. Then alarm klaxons blared throughout the ship. Time was quickly running out for the three young women.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

* * *

Ja'Ina and her opponent continued their frenzied clash. While she was able to duck and jump over wild swings and jabs of the force pike, she wasn't able to get in very close for a strike. The pike had a much longer reach than her scimitar, so all Ja'Ina could do was evade and watch for an opening to close in.

Soraa called out to her friend. "Ina! I need room to get through!"

Ja'Ina yelled back, in between moves. "I'm a little busy at the moment! Find another way!"

Soraa growled in frustration. In haste, she carelessly fired a shot into the ceiling near the opponents. Ja'Ina and the Gamorrean both jumped back, startled by the blast. Soraa dropped her rucksack and darted past the dazed combatants after Tira and her abductor.

"Hey! Are you crazy?!" Ja'Ina yelled, angered by Soraa's recklessness.

As she ran off, Soraa called back to Ja'Ina, "well, you told me to find another way!"

Ja'Ina let out a heavy sigh as she turned back to the Gamorrean. However, he was ready for her and swung his pike right at her. She was able to move just quickly enough to avoid the potentially deadly tip, but the pike still connected with her body on the non-energized part of the shaft. The strike sent Ja'Ina flying backwards down the corridor and her sword spinning away.

Ja'Ina lay on the deck with the wind knocked out of her as she tried to recover from the intense blow. The large green humanoid pig took advantage of her compromised state and came at her with his pike. He brought it up, ready to drive the energized tip down into her body. Unfortunately for the guard, this move left a wide opening for Ja'Ina to exploit. She pulled her dagger out from the hidden sheath and managed to thrust it into his leg. He stumbled back, squealing loudly in pain.

Ja'Ina scrambled to retrieve her scimitar, then turned and ran back at the Gamorrean as he staggered around trying to pull the dagger out of his leg. She sprang up into a flip and slashed at her opponent, who was able to bring the pike up in front of him at the last instant. Her blade connected with the pike's controls, which destroyed them and deactivated the weapon's energized tip.

As Ja'Ina continued in her trajectory over the guard, she opened from the flip and kicked off from the top of his head, which made him drop the pike as he teetered. She landed on one knee behind him. The Gamorrean was able to turn to face Ja'Ina just as she charged him and swung her blade, relieving him of his head. She removed her dagger from the guard's leg and took off after Soraa, Tira and the other guard.

Meanwhile, Soraa chased the Gamorrean who had Tira in his clutches. Unfortunately, they were headed back toward the bow of the ship, away from their escaping point. She picked up the pace so that they wouldn't get very far from the women's exit to freedom. After a short time, Soraa did not see the guard and Tira in front of her and wondered if she turned the wrong direction. She stopped short and looked up and down the corridor.

"Blast it! Where'd they go?"

The klaxons were deafening and maddening. Soraa didn't hear the two guards step out from a side corridor. They fired at her, but luckily for Soraa, Gamorreans are not as good with ranged weapons as they are with melee weapons. Soraa spun around and quickly squeezed off two blasts, easily felling both of the guards. Just then, Ja'Ina came running up.

Soraa shouted above the klaxons. "You done playing with your big green friend back there?"

Ja'Ina shouted back. "Yeah! Where's Tira?"

"I don't know! I lost her!"

"Well let's go find her, she can't be far!"

The two jogged ahead and came to an intersecting corridor. They heard Tira scream out.

Ja'Ina shouted, "This way!"

Soraa nodded, saving her voice.

Sure enough, they found the Gamorrean dragging the struggling slave girl down the corridor.

Soraa yelled at the guard, "You there! Let her go!"

The Gamorrean looked up at the two women, startled.

Tira cried out, "Soraa! Ja'Ina! Help meeee!"

The guard struck Tira in the head and dropped her unconscious to the deck. He raised his blaster up and fired at Soraa and Ja'Ina as they ran at him. Like the other guards, he was not very good with the blaster. Still, with the wild shots, Soraa and Ja'Ina had plenty to dodge. Soraa fired back at the guard, hitting the blaster in his hand. He shrieked and stepped back as Ja'Ina ran up with her scimitar raised. She slashed at the Gamorrean's chest, cutting right into him. He went down in a pool of Gamorrean blood.

Suddenly the klaxons stopped.

"That can't be good!" Ja'Ina remarked.

Soraa and Ja'Ina ran to Tira, who was still lying unconscious on the deck. Ja'Ina knelt down and cradled her head.

"Looks like she'll be alright, just a bump… Wait… What's this?" Ja'Ina pointed to a small scar at the base of Tira's skull.

"I don't know, Ina. But we should get going and figure it out later!"

Soraa holstered her blaster and picked Tira up. Ja'Ina sheathed her sword over her shoulder and walked alongside. They quickly made it back to the previous corridor and turned to head aft. They nearly made it to the cargo hold when Dun'ii stepped out into the corridor in front of them. She pointed a blaster right at them and fired. The blast struck Soraa in the left upper arm; her jacket offered no real protection. She dropped to the floor hollering in pain and let go of Tira to grab her wounded arm.

Ja'Ina brandished her sword. "Dun'ii! What the hell are you doing?!"

"Keeping you from leaving, of course!"

Ja'Ina was confused. "B-but you're a slave too, aren't you?"

"I suppose I _was_. But after Master Mehar acquired me, I decided to 'ride the heatstorm' as it were. So, I help him acquire and sell the girls and he lets me be his partner."

Soraa was incensed. "How could you?!"

"Trust me, my dear Soraa this is a much more pleasant alternative. You have no idea what these slaves go through once they're sold. Tira was assigned as my _recruitment_ partner, but apparently she's had a change of heart!"

At that moment, Tira stirred and came to. Soraa helped her slowly sit up.

Tira grabbed her aching head. "W-what happened? Where are we?"

Soraa whispered to her, "We're in trouble. Just stay still."

Tira looked around, still dazed. She focused on the figure standing in front of them. "D-Dun'ii? No…"

The Twi'lek was visibly pleased to see that Tira was awake to see what was happening. "Well hello my dear _partner_! You weren't planning on leaving, were you? Tsk tsk! Master Mehar will be very disappointed."

"You know I can't do this anymore, Dun'ii! Please let us go!"

"I should have seen this coming, Tira. You've been rather hesitant lately, with last night being the worst. Mehar and I had hoped you learned your lesson, but I guess you didn't."

Tira touched her black eye. "I'm glad I disappointed you!"

Her words set Dun'ii off. "You're nothing but _property_!"

"So are you, Dun'ii!" Soraa barked back.

During the whole exchange, Ja'Ina started inching closer to Dun'ii, hoping to catch her off-guard. It didn't work though.

The Twi'lek turned her blaster on Ja'Ina. "Hold it right there! No closer!"

Ja'Ina froze in place, still holding her sword on guard.

Without warning, Tira screamed at the top of her lungs. "Nooooo!"

This distracted Dun'ii enough to give Ja'Ina the opportunity she needed. Silent and with lightning speed, she sprang at the Twi'lek. Ja'Ina brought her scimitar back and slashed at Dun'ii. The sword cut horizontally across the Twi'lek's midsection between her belly and chest. She went down screaming. Dun'ii was in intense pain but the wound was superficial. The blood escaping from the wound tarnished the silver luster of her leotard. She fell onto her side, moaning and clutching her midsection.

Ja'Ina ran back to her friends and helped them up.

Tira was still frantic. "We're almost out, let's go!"

Dun'ii called out in a weak voice, "come... back... here..." The trio ignored her as they briskly walked past.

The young women entered the dimly-lit hold. It was fairly big, enough to hold a couple of landspeeders and a bunch of cargo. There were some strange noises coming from the dark – sounds of quiet crying and moaning. Soraa brought up the lights. Ja'Ina gasped.

All along the sides of the hold were small, barred cells – many of them were occupied by a single female of a number of different species. The majority of the women were either Twi'lek or one of a number of near-human races. The rest were of humanoid races such as Rodian and Theelin. All of the prisoners were barely responsive, as if they were drugged. Tira punched some buttons by the door to open the large ramp at the back of the hold. It slowly descended, allowing the light of the docking bay to flood the hold.

Tira started for the ramp. "Come on! Let's get out of here!"

Ja'Ina grabbed Tira's arm and pointed to the cells. "Wait a minute! What about them?"

Tira pulled free from Ja'Ina's grasp. "There's no time! We can't help them now!"

Soraa was astonished that Tira's haste overrode the notion of saving the others. "Hold on! Why is it so imperative for us to leave without taking the extra minute to free them?"

"I have to get far enough away so that Mehar can't activate the device in my neck! If I'm not out of range when he activates it, it'll kill me!"

Ja'Ina remembered, "…the scar at the base of your skull…"

"Yes! Let's go, now!"

Tira turned and headed for the ramp. Just then, a torture droid quietly floated up behind Ja'Ina.

Soraa saw the droid and raised her blaster. "Ina, look out!"

Ja'Ina quickly dropped to the deck and rolled to one side. Soraa frantically fired at the spherical automaton. Distracted by the pain in her injured arm, she had a difficult time getting a bead on it. It zipped back and forth barely avoiding her shots.

Soraa noticed that the droid was carrying some kind of big, nasty looking syringe and figured it was full of some unpleasant chemical that no one would want in their body. The droid followed its programming and approached her to administer the drug, which made it an easy target. She fired again and the droid exploded in a bright fireball.

Soraa was pleased with herself. "Just like Goan's training range back home!"

Tira implored one last time. "Please! Let's go!"

Ja'Ina was torn with saving the other women. "But…"

"She's right, Ina!" Soraa insisted. "We can't do anything right now! All we can do is hope that we'll have the opportunity to return and free them another day!"

Ja'Ina woefully looked at the prisoners for a moment then ran to catch up with the others. The three had nearly made it to the ramp when Tira shrieked and collapsed to the deck in a twitching heap. Soraa and Ja'Ina stopped cold.

"Tira!" Soraa called out.

Soraa and Ja'Ina ran back and crouched over the slave girl who lay motionless on the deck. Then a deep, snorting laugh echoed through the hold.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

* * *

"Well my dears, you're most impressive!"

It was the Kusolan slaver Mehar. He stood at the doorway with a modified heavy blaster pistol pointed at the women in one hand and a remote control in the other. With him stood six more Gamorreans armed with force pikes and Dun'ii, slightly hunched forward in pain holding her bleeding wound.

"You're full of surprises, indeed! I've never had any girls give me so much trouble before. First you kill some of my employees and try to take one of my slaves from me. _Then_ you damage my prized Twi'lek here!"

Dun'ii lowered her head in shame in response to the slaver's comment.

Mehar and his Gamorrean entourage stepped forward and he motioned with his blaster. "Now be good girls and kindly step away from my property."

Frightened, Soraa and Ja'Ina slowly stood up and stepped away from Tira.

"And also drop your weapons, if you please."

The women hesitated.

The slaver gave an impatient snort. "Do it! Now!"

The Gamorreans stepped closer to Soraa and Ja'Ina, leveling the charged tips of their pikes in the young women's direction. The hum of the weapons was an ominous reminder of their potency. Soraa dropped her blaster and Ja'Ina her scimitar.

Mehar glared at the women. "Given the trouble you've caused me, I'd say you owe me big time! It's only fair."

Soraa and Ja'Ina stood firm, tensed up and ready for a fight.

His expression relaxed and he gave them a smile. "However… You'd make excellent additions to my operation. With your prowess you could be captains of my guards, allowing me to expand my business even further. I'd pay you most handsomely."

Soraa got a sick feeling in her stomach, remembering her thought of wanting to provide security for Mehar's 'business.' This was not what she had in mind by even a parsec.

Ja'Ina voiced their shared disgust. "You're crazy to think we'd ever want to join you!"

"Well, you can join me either as my partners or my property, your choice!" Mehar punctuated his ultimatum with a snort.

Soraa angrily answered, "You're pile of steaming bantha dung!"

"You've decided then," Mehar replied in a casual manner. He motioned his guards forward. "You're quite pretty girls, you know. You should command some good money on the market, though your feistiness may make you harder to sell. We'll have to train you to respect your masters so you'll be more marketable." To the guards, he barked, "take them!"

Soraa and Ja'Ina stood their ground, allowing the guards to approach them. The women flashed each other a quick nodding glance. The two closest Gamorreans stood their force pikes up in order to grab their would-be prisoners, opening their guard. In a flash, Soraa drew her hold-out blaster from her boot and Ja'Ina pulled her dagger out from the hidden sheath on her thigh.

Soraa fired at her guard, hitting him in the belly. He fell back, wounded. Unfortunately, the small blaster wasn't powerful enough to be lethal, especially for the Gamorrean's hefty physique. Ja'Ina had a bit more success. She rushed her guard and flung her dagger, which found its way into his forehead. As he fell over dead, she jumped forward and grabbed his pike.

Mehar stepped back from the melee and snorted in frustration. "Take them, you idiots!"

The wounded guard stood up and came after Soraa again. She frantically opened fire on him, this time aiming for his head. It took three shots to finally connect. He fell over for the last time.

Ja'Ina assumed a wide stance with the pike behind her back then swung it around toward the nearest Gamorrean. The tip connected with his torso, which stunned him to unconsciousness. While she was relieved the pikes were not set to kill, Ja'Ina did not relax her defenses.

While Soraa was busy dodging pike jabs from another pig guard, she fired a shot which hit him in the shoulder. He dropped his weapon and squealed in pain. She opened up three more blasts into him, which finally felled him. Soraa needed to retrieve her heavy blaster pistol. She unloaded the last two shots of her miniature blaster into a new guard and tossed it aside. He stumbled back, wounded but not down.

Ja'Ina dueled with another Gamorrean. Unfortunately, all she could do was dodge his wild onslaught. The guard's strength would be too much for her if she connected her pike with his.

Soraa retrieved her blaster pistol. "Ina! We need to get out of here!"

"I hear you!" Ja'Ina yelled back.

In Ja'Ina's moment of distraction, her opponent swung at her. She reflexively raised her pike to block his attack. Unfortunately, his swing was so strong that the impact knocked her pike from her grasp and threw her aside to the deck. She slid to a stop and struggled to stand up. The young woman quickly scanned around her for her sword and found it not far. As she made a break for it, Ja'Ina knew the Gamorrean was right behind her trying to thrust the tip of his force pike into her back. She juked and jumped, keeping a half-step ahead of his strikes.

Ja'Ina dived for her sword, but slid just past it. However, it still managed to get into her hand. She was sure that she wouldn't able to grab it, but didn't question the outcome. She sprang up onto her feet with her back to the still-charging guard. Without looking behind her, Ja'Ina side-stepped the weapon and slashed at his shoulder as he ran past, severing his weapon arm well above the elbow. The hulking Gamorrean fell to his knees, squealing and holding his abbreviated arm. With that guard no longer a threat, Ja'Ina ran to meet Soraa and escape down the ramp.

The women reached the rear of the hold, where they found Mehar waiting for them with the ramp slowly closing behind him. He fired several blasts at them, which they managed to dodge as they charged toward him. Ja'Ina shot ahead of Soraa and bore down on the Kusolan faster than he could fire again or get out of the way. She easily hacked his blaster hand off at the wrist as she ran by. He let out a series of howls punctuated by loud snorts.

Soraa and Ja'Ina made it to the edge of the rising ramp. They took one last glance at Tira, who was still laying motionless on the deck, then jumped off the edge to the landing bay's surface below.

Soraa and Ja'Ina landed unceremoniously on their rears, scrambled to their feet and ran back out of the bay. They locked the door of the locker area behind them and hid inside to catch their breath and gather their wits. Still, they kept ready in case they were still being pursued. A few moments later, the young friends could hear Mehar's ship taking off from the bay. They embraced each other, grateful to have escaped.

Soraa and Ja'Ina stayed in the locker area for a few more minutes. There was nothing they could say at the moment. Ja'Ina sat cross-legged on the floor and meditated while Soraa sat on the bench tending to the wound on her arm. Both of them were battered and thoroughly exhausted. A short time later, Ja'Ina took in a big breath and let out a long, steady exhale. Then she sheathed her sword and stood up.

"Okay Soraa. Let's get out of here."

Soraa looked over at her friend, distraught. "What are we going to do, huh? We left all our stuff on the ship back there! All our clothes and everything!"

Ja'Ina gave her a reassuring smile and gestured to herself. "Well, not _all_ of our clothes."

"You know what I mean. I'm serious, Ina! We've got nothing!"

"Well, how much money did you keep on you?"

"Very little. Most of it was in my sack."

"Same here. But we'll be okay for a little while."

"It won't last more than a day or two. And that's if we don't try to stay anywhere for the night!" Soraa punched the bench. "We screwed up _big time_! We shoulda stayed put 'till Raelin and the others got back! What're we gonna do?!"

Ja'Ina took her friend's hands with a smile. "Look Soraa, things will work out okay. Think about it. We managed to escape from that sleemo Mehar, we're still alive and in relatively good condition. I think it could have gone much worse."

Soraa's thoughts turned to Tira. "You're right, Ina…"

Ja'Ina picked up on Soraa's thoughts. "There was nothing more we could have done for her. Just remember that."

Soraa sighed and nodded affirmative, holstering her blaster. She felt anxious about not having her hold-out blaster anymore. It had saved her on several occasions. But at least she still had her DL-44, the most powerful of her weapons.

The two friends straightened themselves up as much as they could and returned to the spaceport terminal.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

* * *

Soraa and Ja'Ina made their way back through the terminal to leave the spaceport. They sported bruises and scrapes, were dirty and their hair was messed up. Still, they tried to carry on as if nothing was out of sorts.

"I wish Raelin and the others were still here," Soraa whispered to her friend.

"Me too, but it can't be helped," Ja'Ina whispered back.

Soraa and Ja'Ina kept very close to each other to be safe. They were surrounded by all sorts of beings, both on the conveyor and on the regular floor. Soraa felt a gentle tap on the shoulder and nearly jumped out of her skin. She instantly turned and drew her blaster, frightening the intruder.

"Don't shoot! I mean you no harm!" It was a skinny old man with a big scar on the left side of his ruddy face. He wore a grubby, ill-fitting old-style pilot suit and carried a small, outdated blaster pistol. He was standing right behind the young women on the conveyor. He spoke slowly with a raspy voice.

The incident attracted much attention from those around them. Soraa brought her weapon down and Ja'Ina released the hilt of her sword, leaving it sheathed over her shoulder. With the situation relaxed, the bystanders went back to their own business.

The old man spoke again. "You'd better take it easy, young Miss. You almost shot an innocent man!"

Soraa was flustered beyond words, so Ja'Ina spoke for her. "With all due respect, you need to be careful not to startle an armed person."

The old spacer shrugged. "You got me there, Missy. But that's exactly what I was gonna ask you about, if you take my meanin'."

"What do you want?" Soraa asked.

"I noticed your weapons and wondered if you were…" He leaned forward and whispered to them. "…bounty hunters."

Soraa did not expect such a question. "Excuse me?"

He stood back up. "I mean, the two of you are walkin' around armed like you are, lookin' like you've been in a fight. And now I see you have very quick reflexes-"

Ja'Ina cut in. "I'm sorry sir, you're mistaken. We're just travelers passing through and have had a difficult trip."

"Ahhhh, I see…" The old man rubbed his chin. "I've seen many things in this galaxy, and been in plenty of scuffles in my day." He pointed to Soraa's wounded arm. "I coulda sworn that's a blaster wound you're sportin' there. I apologize for my mistake."

Soraa unconsciously grabbed her injured arm. "Well, why do you ask?"

"If you're not hunters, then you wouldn't be interested."

"Try us." Soraa gave Ja'Ina a little nudge, indicating she was up to something.

The old man cocked his head, a little confused. "Well… Okay, then let's go someplace we can discuss things. I know a good place a short walk from the terminal."

Soraa smiled. "Sounds good, right Ina?"

"Uhhh, sure." Ja'Ina was trepidatious, but she knew what Soraa was trying to do. Their monetary situation was grave, and they were desperate for just about any kind of job.

The three made their way back through the terminal, leaving the docking bays behind them. Soraa and Ja'Ina constantly scanned around them as the conveyor took them back to the start of the terminal. The old spacer quietly stood behind the young women. Ja'Ina couldn't help but feel nervous, but it seemed the old man was sincere. They stepped off the end of conveyor and the old pilot stepped in front of Soraa and Ja'Ina.

"Follow me. There's a little bar not far that is a good place to sit and converse."

Ja'Ina narrowed her eyes at the old man. "You'd better be on the level with us, or trust me you'll regret it!"

"Ho ho! You've got quite the fire about you! Don't worry. There's no need to be paranoid, though I do understand your feelin's given your line of work."

Soraa and Ja'Ina decided to play the part as best as they could, though they had very little knowledge about bounty hunters – except for the one Soraa 'met' a few years ago.

The old man led the young women through some back streets until they got to a little dive of a bar. It was called The Hideout, a rather obvious name for a place not-so-savory people to meet. The three entered the bar. It was dark, crowded and noisy and filled with strange odors. Soraa and Ja'Ina looked around and realized that the majority of the patrons were non-human. Many were smoking who-knows-what from strange pipes and the drinks looked disgustingly un-potable. The old spacer found a small vacant table and welcomed Soraa and Ja'Ina to sit down with him.

"The name's Lernel. I'm a prospector of asteroids and small moons." He shook his guests' hands. His long, thin fingers were very calloused and stronger than they appeared to be.

"I mine all sorts of ores. Whatever I can come across that is of value to someone. But let's get down to it. I had a prime claim in an asteroid field in the Outer Rim. Some guy came to me askin' if he could explore it, sayin' he had information of some kind of lost artifact or somethin' that was located there."

The miner's story immediately intrigued Soraa, while Ja'Ina listened with mere interest.

"Anyway, he offers me money to explore the caves that I had been workin' in. I figured he was just gonna go in there and do some lookin' around so I agreed to it. I mean, what's the harm in that? I make a little money and don't even have to give him any ore for it.

"So he goes in there for a while and I go off to work on another of my claims. I come back a couple days later to find the whole thing caved in! Most of the mine was destroyed, makin' it unsalvageable! There was no sign of the guy and I got no communications from him other than a vague apology in a holo-message."

Ja'Ina spoke up. "So you think that he purposely destroyed your mine after he found what he was looking for whatever?"

"Miss, I've been prospectin' for many, many years, learned it from my father and him his. I know how to keep my mines stable and safe. It wouldn't have just collapsed by itself! Now whether he did it purposely or not doesn't matter. What does is I've lost considerable income because of him! I'm guessin' he found what he was looking for, but I'm not sure. Either way, he owes me for the destruction of my mine."

"So you'd like us to track him down for you," Soraa asked.

"Yeah, I would. I've tracked him here, but he'd take off at the first sight of me."

Ja'Ina asked, "So Lernel, what do we do once we've found this guy?"

"He told me he was lookin' for a small golden statue. I can only assume that he did find it, and that he was lookin' to sell it to someone."

"So it's apparently something of value," Soraa surmised.

"Yeah, and I get the feelin' it's worth more than the five-thousand credits he gave me."

Soraa rested her chin on her fist. "So what's in it for us?"

"There's the problem, uhhhh…" He gestured his hand toward Soraa.

"Soraa, and my partner here is Ja'Ina."

"Soraa and Ja'Ina…pretty names!" Lernel got back to the task at hand. "I'm afraid I don't have much to offer right now. My operation was terribly hurt by the loss of the mine and I've spent time away from my other operations chasin' after this gundark slime."

Soraa was disappointed. "Well I guess there's nothing more we can do. I'm sorry Lernel."

The women started to get up. Lernel grabbed Ja'Ina's arm, a grasp which she easily reversed. She quickly pinned the old man's arm to the table.

"Please wait! Hear me out," Lernel yelped.

Soraa looked at him for a moment as he squirmed under Ja'Ina's hold. "Okay, we're listening."

Ja'Ina released him and they sat down again.

The old man rubbed his just-freed arm. "Retrieve the statue and we'll try to get some money for it. I'll split the profit fifty-fifty with you. It probably won't fully compensate for my mine, but at least it'll ruin whatever deal he had. That satisfaction's good enough for me."

"We'll need a little bit up front," Soraa said.

Lernel stared at the young women intently, rubbing his stubbly, aged jaw. "How much is _a little bit_?"

Soraa thought about it for a moment. "Two-thousand credits."

The old man's jaw dropped. "What?! I took care of most of the work already by trackin' him here! Besides, I don't have that much!"

Ja'Ina elbowed Soraa and took over the negotiations. "Okay, then we'll take only five-hundred." She felt Lernel was being honest with them.

"Ja'Ina, you're much more reasonable than your partner here. It's still tough for me, but we have a deal."

They all shook hands, sealing the deal.

Soraa continued. "So who is this guy? What does he look like?"

"His name's In-Dee Johlo. He's from Corellia, or so he claims."

Lernel produced a holo-image of the man. He was ruggedly handsome and sported a hat. He looked to be several years older than Soraa and Ja'Ina.

"He's kinda scruffy-looking, isn't he," Ja'Ina commented.

"But he does seem to have a thing for attractive young ladies like yourselves. So you may also be able to use that to your advantage."

Soraa smiled and cracked her knuckles. "That's no problem. We have experience with such things."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

* * *

With the advance that Lernel gave them, Soraa and Ja'Ina were able to get a small, cheap hotel room near the spaceport, where they were able to clean up and rest somewhat. It was very meager compared to their previous accommodations and it was not as safe of a location. Nonetheless, they were grateful just to have a place to stay for the night.

Lernel knew which bay In-Dee Johlo parked his ship in. It was a concourse that had free-standing enclosed hangars for smaller craft rather than the large docks that were open to the sky. The old man didn't know the timing of In-Dee's comings and goings, but figured that if the young women camped out near his hangar he'd come by sooner or later.

Soraa and Ja'Ina left their room early the next morning to head back to the spaceport. They had no idea what to expect from their first bounty hunt.

"I hope this guy doesn't put up a fight," Ja'Ina said. "I don't want it to come to violence."

"Me too, Ina. We've had plenty of that to last us for a while."

The women followed Lernel's directions to In-Dee's hangar. The constant noise of whining engines and blasts of thrusters filled the air, mixed with the pungent odors of fuel and lubricants.

Each stand-alone building had several hangar bays in it and each bay opened to the outside in rows. Soraa and Ja'Ina walked in the large space between two of these buildings. Some of the bays were open and the women were able to see the ships inside. They were much smaller than Mehar's freighter, the biggest ones capable of holding no more than a few people. They tended to be rather sleek-looking, suggesting they were fast and maneuverable.

There was much activity in this area between the hangar buildings. Ships were constantly flying in and out. Pilots were going through their final checklists. Droids were performing diagnostics. Soraa and Ja'Ina came to Johlo's hangar and found the door closed.

"Nobody home, I guess," Soraa said.

"We'll just have to wait until he shows up."

Soraa and Ja'Ina looked around a little bit. They noticed that the large hangar door had a personnel door in it, so as to not require opening the whole thing to come and go. Ja'Ina put her ear to the door.

"I hear something in there; sounds mechanical."

"It's probably his ship." Soraa flashed a mischievous smile. "Wanna go inside?"

"Not particularly. Besides, it's probably locked."

Ja'Ina scanned their surroundings to ensure they weren't being watched. She hadn't noticed that Soraa already opened the door.

Soraa poked her head inside. "Nope. Not locked."

"Soraa! Don't go in there!"

"Come on! We've got a job to do here. If he's not here, this is a perfectly good place to wait for him. It's his fault for not locking the door."

Ja'Ina let out a loud, annoyed sigh. The last thing she wanted was to startle Johlo and make the situation turn dangerous.

They slowly and cautiously walked into the hangar. Soraa had to fight the nervous urge to pull out her blaster. Ja'Ina kept herself focused on their surroundings, in case someone or something was hiding nearby.

There was a single ship in the hangar – a Y-wing fighter. The ship looked beat up and worn, but still had all of its hull plating in place. What caught the women's attention was an orange-trimmed R2-series astromech droid that was buzzing around the ship, occasionally stopping to poke and prod it. The droid looked about as weathered as the fighter. It tooted and whistled to itself as it rolled around.

Soraa and Ja'Ina relaxed and smiled at each other. They had never seen an astromech before, and they thought it was cute. As they walked toward the ship, the droid noticed them. It screeched at the newcomers and quickly rolled behind the far engine's nacelle.

Ja'Ina called out to it, even though she didn't know if it could even understand her. "Hey there! It's okay, we're not going to hurt you! Really!"

"I don't know, Soraa. Looks like it doesn't trust us."

The young women continued to walk towards the ship. The R2 unit made sounds that suggested nervousness or fear.

"Ina, I've never seen a ship like this before. Have you?"

"Nope. But it looks quite fast. It reminds me a little of the racing speeders I've seen on the HoloNet. I bet it would be a blast to take a ride in this thing."

Ja'Ina noticed the R2 droid was watching them, as if it was curious about them. She motioned to Soraa to let it be. The women walked along the nacelle on the near side of the ship. Soraa found it fascinating.

"Look at how big these engines are! I'm sure they're incredibly powerful!"

"Sure thing, Soraa. Whatever you say." Ja'Ina didn't understand much about technical things, nor did she care to.

The astromech droid slowly rolled towards them, as if to sneak up on them. But the servos in its feet were anything but silent. Ja'Ina slowly turned towards the droid, trying to look as harmless as she could.

"Hi there. What are you? You are a cute little guy."

It stopped and looked at her with its dark, round photoreceptor. It rotated its domed head a little from side to side. It then started rolling slowly towards them again.

"You're early," called an unfamiliar voice from behind Soraa and Ja'Ina. They quickly turned around to face the person. Startled, the R2 unit quickly retreated to its safe spot behind the engine.

Soraa and Ja'Ina recognized the man from Lernel's holo-image. It was In-Dee Johlo, standing just inside the door. He was dressed in matching tan shirt and pants with a dusty dark-brown jacket. He sported a dirty hat on his head and a large pouch slung over one shoulder. He also carried a blaster. His face was handsome, but was a bit scruffy-looking with his unshaven stubble.

In-Dee continued. "I was told you wouldn't be here until later this afternoon."

The women were confused. He shouldn't have known they were coming for him.

Ja'Ina responded, "Really? Well, apparently your information was wrong."

"Your boss told me it'd be this afternoon. Did she change the deal?"

Then it clicked. Soraa leaned over to Ja'Ina and whispered, "_She_? I think he thinks we're someone else – maybe the people who wanted that statue."

Ja'Ina whispered back, "Yeah, I figured that. Just follow my lead." She turned back to In-Dee and spoke up. "Exactly, Mister Johlo. She didn't want you to get cold feet and back out before we got here."

In-Dee continued walking towards them. "That's ridiculous! Your boss has nothing to worry about. I'm not going to walk out from this lucrative deal. You have payment for the idol, right?"

Soraa broke into a cold sweat. They had less than two-hundred credits between the two of them, certainly much less than the expected payment. Ja'Ina sensed her friend's anxiety and stepped forward towards their quarry, continuing to play along with the ruse.

"Of course we do, Mister Johlo. Do you think our boss would rip you off?"

Ja'Ina's approach made In-Dee nervous. He stopped in his tracks. "It's not like that at all! I know your boss is generally scrupulous when it suits her, but in the end she's still a _pirate_."

Soraa stepped up next to Ja'Ina. "Show us the idol," she demanded.

"I can't at the moment, it's in my ship," he gestured towards the fighter. "Show me the money."

Impatient, Soraa shot back, "show us the statue first!"

"Look, if this is how Berini does business I'm going to have to go somewhere else to sell it."

Ja'Ina was worried they were going to lose him. She stepped sultrily towards him and gave him an inviting smile. "Okay, okay Mister Johlo. There's no need for hasty decisions," she purred with a silky voice.

"W-what are you doing?" In-Dee nervously asked. He shied back a couple of steps.

Soraa continued to cover Ja'Ina in case something happened. She rested her hand on her holstered blaster, carefully watching the situation.

Ja'Ina hypnotically swung her hips as she continued to step forward. This distracted In-Dee, causing him to drop his guard in his moment of attraction. She cooed, "I'm just going to give you your payment for the idol."

In a flash, Ja'Ina pulled her scimitar from its sheath strapped to her back. She lunged at the confused spacer and touched her sword's tip to his chest. Soraa drew her blaster.

"In-Dee Johlo, we are here to take you in for the destruction of Lernel's mine. Please come quietly." Ja'Ina narrowed her eyes.

"A-a-are you serious? You were sent by that old miner? If you're not Berini's girls, who the hell are you?"

Soraa quickly stepped forward, keeping her bead on the bewildered man. "We don't know who this Berini person is, but we're taking you back to Lernel. Or we could turn you over to the Imperial authorities for theft and vandalism if you'd rather."

A new voice called out, "That won't be necessary, young Miss!"

Soraa, Ja'Ina and In-Dee looked in the direction of the new voice. It was Lernel. He shakily held a blaster carbine up towards In-Dee with a very angry expression on his face. In-Dee quickly shot his hands up in the air.

"I appreciate you holdin' him for me 'till I arrived. I can take over now and you can go."

Soraa didn't like the sound of his statement. "What about our payment?"

"I already paid you, Missy. Yer not gettin' one more red credit!"

Ja'Ina was so angry that she cursed him in Huttese. "You dopa maskey sleemo! We had a deal, fifty-fifty!"

"I changed my mind," Lernel shot back.

Soraa pointed her blaster at the old spacer, furious. "Why you chuff-sucking old coot!"

In-Dee didn't know what was going on, but was amused by the exchange just the same. "This is quite entertaining, but I'm a bit rushed so if you'll just-"

Lernel fired his carbine into the floor at In-Dee's feet, who in turn fell down startled by the shot. "Yer not goin' anywhere, Johlo!"

Soraa and Ja'Ina were astonished. Lernel was not the same humble man they met in the spaceport the day before. This man was angry, violent and vengeful.

An unfamiliar female voice shouted out, "Nobody's going anywhere!"

The others all looked and saw four women – two humans, one Togruta and one Theelin – all wearing ornate skimpy clothing and brandishing various blasters.

"Don't nobody move," commanded one of the humans. "Where's In-Dee Johlo?"

Still sitting on the floor, In-Dee raised his hand and stood up. "Right here, M'lady. I've been waiting for you. I'm so glad to see-"

Lernel seethed, "He's mine! You can't have him!" He turned and fired his carbine at the motley newcomers.

They all dodged his wild shots with ease and returned fire. Their blasts hit the old man in the shoulder and leg and he went down hollering. In-Dee barely managed to keep from getting blasted in the crossfire himself. Soraa and Ja'Ina stepped back towards the ship, not wanting to get involved. The situation had quickly gotten way over their heads and they just wanted to leave.

The Togruta noticed the two young women trying to leave the scene. She pointed her blaster at them. "Where do you think you're going, Pretties? Put down your weapons and you won't get hurt."

Just then, the R2 unit insistently beeped and whistled to Soraa and Ja'Ina. It was sitting in its socket just behind the cockpit and had prepped the ship while no one noticed.

Ja'Ina looked at her friend. "That sounds like an invitation to me!"

"Okay Ina, let's go for it!"

Soraa and Ja'Ina made a break for the fighter's open cockpit and jumped in as the Togruta fired at them. The young women watched in amazement as the large hangar door opened up in front of them and their ship lifted off of the ground.

As the canopy closed, Soraa and Ja'Ina could hear one of the pirates call out, "stop that ship!"

The pirates all opened fire on the Y-wing as it slowly floated out of the hangar, but the blasts from their hand-held weapons had no effect on the ship's armored hull.

Inside the cockpit, the women heard the R2 unit toot and crackle. In the pilot seat Ja'Ina noticed a console display that read, "_Quickly fasten your safety restraints!_"

Ja'Ina didn't ask any questions. She yelled to Soraa sitting behind her in the gunner seat, "Buckle up! We're going for a ride!"

Soraa hastily fumbled with her seat's harness. "What?! You know how to fly this thing?!"

"No, but I think that little droid does!"

The Y-wing roared out of the hangar area and into the atmosphere. As they climbed into the sky, Soraa could see a large squad of Imperial troops heading toward the hangar through her aft-facing viewport.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

* * *

Soraa and Ja'Ina were in absolute awe as they climbed higher and higher through the atmosphere of Galathu. Neither of them had ever even been in an airspeeder, let alone a starship. Occasionally, they would see one high in the sky back in Sim Katall, but now they were actually in one. Their excitement was incomprehensible.

Gradually, the choppiness of the ride smoothed out until they were out of the atmosphere and entered the vacuum of space. The women had an incredible view of Galathu and the gas giant Viinn around which it orbited. The views of space spanning around them were more than anything their wildest imaginations could come up with.

As Galathu grew more distant, they could make out the single continent on the moon's surface. Due to the gravitational influences of Viinn, the vast oceans were constantly rocked by violent, powerful tidal currents. The coastlines would repeatedly recede and advance by hundreds of kilometers, leaving the population to reside well inland.

Soraa and Ja'Ina looked around the cockpit. They could not even begin to comprehend all the controls and instruments that lined the consoles. The young women each found a comlink headset at her station and put them on.

Soraa spoke first. "Ina! Get a look at all of this! It's awesome!"

"Yeah, I agree." Ja'Ina was a little more dazed than Soraa was. "I can't believe we finally achieved our dream of leaving Galathu."

"We just need to figure out where to go."

Ja'Ina excitedly turned around to face Soraa behind her. "I know, let's go to Krrad and surprise Raelin and the others!"

"That would be great! They'll be happy to see us. How do we get there?"

"Umm, that's a good question, Soraa."

Soraa pointed out her viewport to the astromech droid protruding from the neck of the ship behind the cockpit. "Ina, we could ask our rescuer if he could take us!"

Waving out the aft viewport, Ja'Ina tried to talk to the droid. "Little friend, can you hear me? Thank you for helping us!"

The droid broke out in a long stream of clicks, buzzes and toots over the comlink. The young women couldn't understand it, but Ja'Ina remembered the display on the pilot console and turned around.

It read, "_You are welcome. Am I really your friend?_"

Ja'Ina was excited that the droid could hear them through the comlink. "Of course you're our friend! I'm Ja'Ina." She turned back around to see the droid.

Soraa's console also displayed the textual translation of the droid's noises. "And I'm Soraa. We're glad to meet you."

The astromech made a happy-sounding noise. "_I am Industrial Automaton Astromech R2 series, R2-T50._"

Soraa turned toward Ja'Ina. "He's got a strange name, doesn't he Ina?"

"Yeah, it's not very personal."

The astromech listened to the young women as they discussed his name. It panned its domed head back and forth in a jerking manner.

"I don't like just having numbers and letters for his name. He should have a nicer name."

Ja'Ina thought aloud, "Artoo Tee-fifty... Tee-Fifty... Fifty... I know, how about 'Fitty'?"

"I don't know. It seems kinda silly to me."

"Well Soraa, you have any ideas?"

Soraa grunted. She had none.

"Alright then, his name is Fitty," Ja'Ina declared. "What do you think of that, Fitty?"

The astromech beeped and whistled and the translation display read, "_I do not understand this designation, but if you prefer it I will modify my software routines to respond to it._"

"Thank you, Fitty! It makes it easier for us to talk to you."

Fitty whistled. "_You want to talk to me?_"

"Yeah, why not?" Soraa answered the confused automaton.

Fitty beeped and booped. "_Because I am just a droid._"

Ja'Ina didn't understand. "So what if you're a droid? We can still be friends, right?"

The droid crackled and buzzed. "_I have never had a friend before. Master In-Dee made me stay with the ship and do nothing but maintain it._"

"Well that's just plain terrible," Ja'Ina answered. "You're very valuable to the ship, and you're part of its crew."

"Ina's right, Fitty. You are a part of the ship's crew, not part of the ship."

Fitty whistled and tooted, sounding embarrassed. "_I have never had any organics regard me in that manner. Thank you. I am happy to have you as my new masters._"

"Can you take us to Krrad, Fitty?" asked Soraa. She really liked the idea of seeing Raelin again.

"_That is within my capabilities, Mistress Soraa._"

"Just 'Soraa', please."

"_That is within my capabilities, Soraa. Krrad is presently on the opposite side of Viinn. The trip will take approximately one standard day by sublight velocity._"

Ja'Ina was excited. "That sounds just fine to me! Though, we don't have anything to eat or drink until then…"

"_There are human-consumable rations in the second compartment on the port side of the cockpit._"

Soraa took a look. Sure enough, there was a small amount of food and drink in the compartment.

She drew out some of the rations. "Thank you, Fitty! You're a life saver!"

"_My sensors indicate no distress to either of your physical systems._"

Ja'Ina grabbed a small pouch of food and gratefully munched on it. It wasn't very flavorful, but for rations it was just fine. "Soraa, we need to name our new ship."

"You know, Ina," Soraa said between bites, "You're right. We've been really lucky getting out as far as we have so far. Maybe the name should reflect that."

Fitty beeped with confusion. "_Why must you organics name everything?_"

Ja'Ina looked at Soraa and took a drink of a strange-tasting, nutrient-enriched drink. "Fitty's got a point, at least from his point of view." She chuckled.

"Well Fitty," Soraa replied, "it helps people to relate more to things. I don't know what this ship's actual designation is, but I'm sure it's hard to remember."

Fitty took her statement as a request for information. "_This ship is a Koensayr BTL-S3 Y-Wing fighter, modified for greater cargo capacity, thereby diminishing its combat capabilities. The torpedo-_"

Confused, Ja'Ina interrupted him. "Alright, Fitty. We don't need to know all of that stuff. We wouldn't understand it anyway."

Soraa blurted out, "_Lucky Star_! This ship is our lucky star after all."

"Perfect!"

The astromech booped in a condescending tone. "_That does not compute._"

"It doesn't have to _compute_," Soraa retorted with a smile. "It works for us."

"_That is not logical. However, I will update the ship's registry for the designation '_Lucky Star_'._"

With that, the newly-christened ship continued the trip to Krrad.

Fitty began to school Soraa and Ja'Ina on the basic operations of the ship. He was capable of taking care of the majority of the operations, but wanted his new masters to learn for themselves before the need arose. Still, it would take quite some time before the women would be able to operate the main functions from the cockpit. The young friends were excited to learn how to fly the ship. Soraa wanted to be the weapons officer and learn to operate the turret gun since she already had excellent ability with ranged weapons, albeit only personal ones. Ja'Ina wanted to be the pilot because she felt she could apply her reflexes to maneuvering the ship.

After spending nearly half the flight learning how to operate the _Lucky Star_, Ja'Ina and Soraa were exhausted. They unbuckled their harnesses and reclined back in their seats to rest.

* * *

Several hours later, Soraa and Ja'Ina were rudely wakened by the blare of warning alarms. Fitty was squealing and beeping frantically.

Ja'Ina quickly fastened her harness and donned her headset. "Fitty, what's going on?!"

The translator display read, "_Proximity alert! Warning! Large vessel approaching from the aft direction! Commencing evasive maneuvers!_"

Ja'Ina called back to Soraa, who was still scrambling to get her harness buckled, "Hang on-"

She was just able to get those words out as the _Lucky Star_ suddenly banked port-side.

Soraa tumbled over her seat. "Owww! What the-"

"We've got company! Strap in, Soraa! Fitty, give me control!"

Fitty screeched in protest. "_I advise against it, Ja'Ina! You have not been trained for such a situation!_"

"Trust me, Fitty!"

"_Negative! Your current skill level is insufficient for evasive maneuvers!_"

"Suit yourself!" Ja'Ina quickly searched for the emergency manual override switch. After a tense moment, she found it and flipped it.

The ship shuddered as control was transferred to the pilot's station. Fitty squealed in protest. Ja'Ina tightly gripped the hands on throttle-and-stick and jerked it starboard. She relied more on her feelings and instinct than on Fitty's limited tutelage.

Soraa tumbled back over her seat to the other side. "Hey! Let me buckle up!"

"I can't wait for your slow choobies!"

"You're too funny!"

"_I find nothing humorous about our situation!_" Fitty responded.

Soraa managed to strap in. Suddenly, a cannon blast shot past right in front of them. Both the women screamed and Ja'Ina pulled up hard on the HOTAS.

Soraa looked out her rear viewport and caught a glimpse of what shot at them. It was a ship much larger than the _Lucky Star_. Most of what she could make out behind them was the characteristic cylindrical hammerhead bow of a Corellian C-90 Corvette. Another blast flew over them and Ja'Ina reacted by putting the fighter into a steep dive. As soon as they dropped below the ventral plane of the pursuing ship, the _Lucky Star_ jerked violently and the engines protested with terrible straining sounds. Several warning indicators flashed bright red on both women's consoles and alarms sounded in their headsets.

Ja'Ina yelled out, "What happened?!"

The droid reported, "_We are caught in a tractor beam. I am shutting down the main drives to avert an overload._"

The young women could hear the engines winding down.

Scared, Soraa asked the astromech, "You mean we're stuck?"

"_Affirmative. There is no way to break free._"

The _Lucky Star _was being pulled back towards the large ship. The fighter rocked nauseatingly in the invisible grasp of their pursuer's tractor beam. As they drew closer the young women began to see just how large the other ship was.

Ja'Ina was in fearful awe of the vessel. "That thing is much larger than Mehar's ship!"

"_We are receiving a communication signal._"

"Let's hear it Fitty," Ja'Ina commanded.

The audio came through their headsets and a female voice broke through the static. "…This is the pirate ship _Queen Valkyrie_. Prepare to be brought on board. As long as you cooperate no harm will come to you."

Soraa grabbed the controls of the turret above her. "Like hell! How do you shoot this karking thing?"

Ja'Ina called back, "Soraa! Now's not the time!"

Fitty also squeaked a protest. "_The ion turret is defensive only and has limited effect on a ship that size. Given the available data, the odds of successful resistance are 5,398 to 1._"

This made Soraa even angrier. "Don't tell me the odds!" She grabbed her blaster.

"That's enough, Soraa! We can't do anything else for now. We'll leave our weapons in the ship. We don't even know what they want yet. It could simply be a case of mistaken identity."

"But-"

"That's all!" She turned back to face Soraa. "Look, I'm scared too. But we need to trust that everything will be okay. We're in this together. Remember that."

Soraa put her blaster down. "You're right. I'm sorry, Ina."

Ja'Ina turned around and smiled to her friend. "That's okay, Soraa. Really, we'll be alright."

"I wish I had a Nimu ale right now."

Fitty chimed in again. "_Consuming an alcoholic beverage at this time is not recommended. Your physical and cognitive abilities would be compromised._"

Soraa groaned as she read the display. "Even a _droid_ gives me a hard time about drinking…"

Ja'Ina couldn't help but chuckle in spite of their dire situation. "Fitty's right, Soraa. You'll just have to try to relax without the ale. Try to remember the techniques I taught you." Ja'Ina looked back at Soraa, who nodded in reply.

* * *

The _Lucky Star_ was pulled to the belly of the _Queen Valkyrie_ where an open hatch waited for them. Slowly, the fighter was brought through the hatch into a small hangar bay. Fitty extended the landing struts as they floated into the only open spot in the bay. Much of the space was already taken up by a number of other craft – a couple of landspeeders, a few speeder bikes and a small shuttlecraft. The Y-wing took up nearly all of the remaining hangar space. The invisible beam gently lowered the craft to rest on its landing gear and Fitty shut down the rest of the ship's systems.

Ja'Ina took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing..."

She opened the cockpit canopy and the two young women cautiously egressed. Fitty rose out of his socket, but had no way of getting down. He squealed and chirped.

Ja'Ina faced the nervous droid. "Don't worry Fitty. Just stay and guard the ship for now. We won't leave you behind. I promise."

The astromech beeped back in a way that suggested a proud 'Yes sir!' response.

Just as Soraa and Ja'Ina stepped down to the hangar's deck, they were greeted by a group of six females of a number of different races. They were all dressed differently, but most wore some kind of skimpy outfit. All of them had their blasters raised and they displayed unwelcome expressions on their faces that unnerved the young women.

One of them stepped forward. It was the Togruta from In-Dee's hangar in Jum Katar. She smiled at Soraa and Ja'Ina, showing her sharp canine teeth. "Well, well Pretties. We meet again! You're coming with us. The Captain's looking forward to meeting you."

Soraa stepped up, trying to keep up appearances of strength. "Well that's good. We'd like to meet him too."

"_Her_!" yelled the Togruta. "Let's go!"

Some of the other pirates surrounded their captives and shackled their wrists. Soraa and Ja'Ina were led off while two of their captors walked over to the _Lucky Star_. Fitty could be heard letting out blats of protest as the pirates started climbing onto the ship.

Ja'Ina called back to him, "Don't worry Fitty. Just let them do what they want for now." She turned to their captors. "Do what you want to the ship, but don't touch the droid. He's of no good to you."

A human pirate standing next to the prisoners got right in Ja'Ina's face. "You're in no position to be making any demands!"

Ja'Ina kept her cool in spite of being unnerved by the situation. "It wasn't a demand, just a request."

"We'll do what we damn well want!"

Ja'Ina shrugged. "Well, I had to try."

The friends were led out of the hangar as the other pirates searched inside the _Lucky Star_.

No one said anything as Soraa and Ja'Ina were led along the corridors to meet the captain. The friends saw a few other crewmembers as they walked along. They were female as well.

The group arrived at a room that appeared to be some kind of conference room. At the center was a large U-shaped table with chairs all around. All but two of the pirate escorts left. One person stood at the far end of the table – a purple-skinned Twi'lek female. She also wore a skimpy outfit, skimpier than any of the others Soraa and Ja'Ina had seen on board so far, which left little to the imagination. It wasn't obscene, but still they were a bit embarrassed by the sight.

The Twi'lek was athletic with well-defined muscles that suggested she had exceptional physical strength. She would have been considered attractive like most female Twi'leks if it weren't for the seemingly permanent scowl on her face and the large, nasty-looking scar that ran along the length of one of her lekku. She looked like she could go ballistic at any moment. Soraa and Ja'Ina chose to remain silent to avoid any provocation.

The Twi'lek walked over to the prisoners and looked them over one at a time. They broke out in a cold sweat as her steely gaze seemed to pierce right through them. She stood silently for a moment with arms akimbo then slowly spoke.

"These are the ones who fled Mister Johlo's hangar in his own ship, eh?"

One of the escorts answered, "yes, Myrrna."

"So, how long have you been working with him?" the Twi'lek asked the young friends.

Surprised, Soraa answered, "Us? Working with In-Dee? We're not, I assure you."

Myrrna smiled. "I'm sure. We'll see about that."

Ja'Ina spoke up. "It's true! In fact, we were hired to capture him for someone."

"Interesting... So you're bounty hunters, then?"

Soraa fought to keep from trembling. "Uhh, yeah."

The timid young women did not strike Myrrna as real bounty hunters. "How long have you been…_bounty hunters_?" she asked sarcastically.

Ja'Ina took over for Soraa. "Well…"

Then a booming voice filled the room. "Myrrna! That's enough!"

Soraa and Ja'Ina turned to see the newcomer. She was a human woman, rather tall and hefty but still somehow kept a feminine air about her. Her head was topped with short reddish hair and she wore a flashy outfit that vaguely resembled some kind of naval officer's uniform completed with a large custom blaster pistol. She was considerably older than the young friends.

She spoke to the prisoners with a strong voice. "Pardon my first officer here. She's not the most tactful person." The imposing woman walked up to Soraa and Ja'Ina. "The name's Berini. Queen Berini, captain of the pirate ship _Queen Valkyrie_. And you're going to be my guests for a while." She punctuated her greeting with a smug smile.

* * *

_Author's note: Thanks for reading so far! This is the end of Episode II. _

_You can find Episode III at: www fanfiction net/s/8647198/1/The-Best-Laid-Plans-Episode-III (just add the missing periods)  
_


End file.
